Selena Gomez Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Selena Gomez is speaking up — for herself and other women.
The actress gave a fiery speech in a video that’s gone viral on X, in which she is open, honest and vulnerable. Speaking at a women in film event with her sister, Gracie, seated next to her, Gomez, 32, said she wasn’t ashamed that she can’t carry a child or that she has bipolar disorder.
“I truly believe that there is power in being vulnerable and telling people when you need help and you want help,” she said. “That is not shameful. So, yeah, I shared that I can’t carry a child. Yeah, I shared that I have bipolar [disorder]. F— off.”
The crowd broke into applause, but Gomez wasn’t done yet. She explained how she wants to use her platform to lift up other women because, she admits, she doesn’t “have it all put together” either.
Selena Gomez isn’t letting her mental health struggles derail her plans to become a mom in the future — but they have shifted her mindset. “That’s a very big, big, present thing in my life,” Gomez told Rolling Stone in November 2022 while discussing her bipolar disorder diagnosis. “However, I’m meant to have them, I […]
“I only want to be an advocate for women and that’s why I share,” she said. “That’s why I like to be honest, because everybody is going through something. I’m me and that’s all I can be.”
Gomez first revealed that she couldn’t carry children in a cover story for Vanity Fair for the magazine’s October issue.
“I haven’t ever said this,” she said, “but I unfortunately can’t carry my own children. I have a lot of medical issues that would put my life and the baby’s in jeopardy. That was something I had to grieve for a while.”
Gomez, who is currently in a relationship with producer Benny Blanco, added that she plans to look into surrogacy and adoption in the future.
Selena Gomez and producer Benny Blanco officially announced their relationship via Instagram in December 2023. “He is my absolute everything in my heart,” the “Wolves” singer wrote in an Instagram comment at the time. “He has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Hints of the couple’s relationship were dropped on the Selena […]
“I’m excited for what that journey will look like, but it’ll look a little different,” she added. “At the end of the day, I don’t care. It’ll be mine. It’ll be my baby.”
The Only Murders in the Building star has routinely been open about her health, sharing her lupus diagnosis in her early 20s, then opening up in 2017 about needing a kidney transplant. She has also discussed her ongoing battles with anxiety and depression.
Gomez’s ups and downs have given her a perspective that she shared with event attendees in the viral video.
“So do not ever let anyone tell you that you are not a good person, that you aren’t kind, that you don’t treat people with respect,” she said. “That is so cool. That is a fact. So screw anyone who tells you you’re a victim. You’re a survivor in my book.”