What’s going on with Selena Gomez? On her 24th birthday Saturday, she sent out two tweets, one which revealed she asked her friends to make a donation to lupus for her birthday and the other which was a clip of her singing an updated version of her song Kill Em With Kindness. She sang the lyrics, “The world can be a nasty place/ You know it, I know it, yeah/ We don’t have to fall from grace /Put down the weapons you fight with.” The following day, she performed her first show of the international leg of her Rival tour in Jakarta. Although she seemed in good spirits prior and during most of the show, Selena gave an emotional talk to her audience, wiping tears away, before she closed out her set. Following the concert, she posted this to her Instagram:
After she posted that, Selena posted a slightly more optimistic picture of herself with her audience in which she calls them “Beautiful.”
The star kicked off the international part of her Revival world tour Saturday night in Jakarta and got real with her fans – both onstage and online. And just one day after turning 24, the singer appeared to be having a blast with her friends as they all arrived in Indonesia. Gomez was all smiles until her concert, when she addressed issues to the crowd and sent a message to her Instagram followers later that night.
Hours before her show, she posted several photos and videos to her Snapchat. In all of them, she was giggly and excited to see everyone.
But just before performing her hit single “Kill ‘Em With Kindness” to end the show, Gomez got emotional and said to the crowd, “The next song, before I go home, is a song that’s so important to me, because I get really frustrated. I get stupid sometimes. I say things that I don’t mean, or that come out wrong, just because I care so badly.”
“But the thing is, at the end of the day, no war in anger was ever won,” she said, quoting her song. “I do know that deep down in my heart, that I have to believe that we can love each other and always be kind, no matter what it takes in us. I believe that we can do that, no matter what.”
I admire Selena’s candor. I have perfectionist tendencies and have been known to issue unsolicited apologies when I feel I was not at my best. If this is just about her feeling she gave a subpar concert, then good for her. I worry her emotional state might be linked to a flare-up of her lupus, though. Autoimmune diseases wreak havoc with your emotions, in addition to everything else, and travel fatigue can bring about a flare-up.
Some wonder if this switch in attitude has anything to do with Taylor Swift. There was speculation about Selena hosting her own Fourth of July party, in which she loudly sang Katy Perry’s hit Firework, while Taylor celebrated wither Taymerica on the east coast. I however think that had to do with Selena only having one day off between shows and being on the west coast. Also, Selena tweeted in defense of Taylor when everything blew up between her and the Kardashian-West Camp. She received a lot of criticism for that. However, Selena specified on her Instagram post that she is “not being negative about anything I’ve done”. Plus, Taylor sent this Instagram to Selena for her birthday, which I hope was for Selena’s benefit and not Taylor trying to prove that everything is A-OK in Taymerica.
Photo credit: WENN Photos, Getty Images, Snapchat
“Plus, Taylor sent this Instagram to Selena for her birthday, which I hope was for Selena’s benefit and not Taylor trying to prove that everything is A-OK in Taymerica.” >>> These don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I’m sure this was a “win-win” for Swift.
She looks so different, something in the face, IDK what it is but the last mags/the VS show/ the commercial on tv she looks Vaguely familiar? and I don’t necessarily think is weight loss or whatever but I’m not sure what is it
Same. I think she got some work done, her face is much more sculpted and her nose looks different in the concert pics.
I think she may be trying to back off from the sexed up image she’s had with this new album. No judgement of that either way, but I wonder if she’s just having second thoughts about not feeling great b/c of the lupus and having to be in good enough health to prance around in a bejeweled bodysuit all the time.
I read somewhere that the lupus thing, was her new record company’s way of covering for her rumored alcohol and drug problem. I don’t even know if that’s true and I sincerely hope it isn’t. What is the tea on her anyway? You can’t be linked/go back to Justin for that long and come out unscathed lol.
As for her note I have no idea. Didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary about her performance in Indonesia. Wonder what’s going on. Also it’s inauthentic not un lmao
I’d heard that as well. But prior to the Lupus diagnosis, I remember she had a health scare that they said was exhaustion – and everyone had jumped to a possible pregnancy, or addiction. Honestly- I tend to believe it was genuine exhaustion from the Lupus – it’s a horrible condition to have. I think that a lot of celebrities do lie about their health to cover up addiction, or other things, and it’s kind of spoiled the public perception. I feel like if it was all a cover up thing, Lupus wouldn’t have been the thing they’d use as an excuse. A friend I had in college had Lupus (She was a huge House fan, and pre-med and hand to god, first thing she said when she found out was “BUT IT’S NEVER LUPUS!”) and she had a hard time. It’s hard to get it under control, and to find the right combination of drugs to live mainly normally.
Honestly – the last few songs of hers that I’ve heard I’d have never guessed it was Selena. I tend to think maybe there’s some growing pains in there, coupled with a possible flare-up of her symptoms. The joint pain and fatigue could be making her feel like her performance was worse than it was, or maybe she feels like she’s been limited by her health issues, and is trying to grow as an artist, but is having trouble doing so.
If they were going to make up a fake condition to cover an addiction, surely they wouldn’t pick a chronic one that has no cure. That doesn’t make any sense.
I’m glad you got diagnosed Erinn, and I hope treatment is working for you!
@JeanGenie, To play devil’s advocate, the fact that it has no cure would give them free reign to use the excuse for as long as they needed if it was to cover up something. Also, public perception/knowledge of lupus is quite little, and from what I can tell most of the symptoms are internal. So people aren’t going to go around saying, “You’re faking!” for fear of backlash, and Selena and co. are free to do whatever they want.
That being said I think she does have lupus, and hope she’s managing to deal with it.
I also read this and tend to believe it as there was a point a couple of years ago where she was very close to a public meltdown, being openly wasted on drugs and alcohol at events. She even went to rehab, which at the time her rep said was “not or substance abuse” and she later said it was for emotional issues following her supposed lupus diagnosis. Sadly, the cynic in me believes it was a clever PR ploy that has largely served its purpose.
I think she’s just being 24. Doesn’t everyone go through a quarter life crisis? I did!
That’s kind of how I read it.
Yes. Auto-immune diseases suck. I’ve been living with one for 20 years now, and it’s a constant emotional challenge–especially during a flare-up. Chronic illness and depression often go hand-in-hand, but because our society still stigmatizes mental illness so much it can be hard to admit that the emotional challenges might go beyond just being “sad” sometimes when you’re not feeling well. I finally admitted to my depression only 7 years ago after years of denial. In addition to being proactive about tracking how well my meds are working, I see a therapist and talk to my friends and family about how I’m feeling. I do my best to not feel ashamed and be open about my mental struggles. My own small attempt to destygmatize!
I agree. I have two and it’s nice to read such thoughtful and sensitive comments from Hescate and above. It really is such a challenge living with conditions that affect you physically and mentally, and in some ways the emotional imapct is the worst.
Yup – this. So few people realize how much chronic disease affects someone. I was in pain and exhausted for years before I ever brought it up to my doctor and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It’s sad – but ultimately, I felt like I was just complaining about ‘normal’ things. I can deal with quite a bit of pain – I also suffer from chronic migraines, so I kind of would just push through the pain. I didn’t want to disappoint people by missing out on things, and felt guilty when I did. Most people don’t realize that most days – I’m putting on a show to look like I’m functioning normally. Right now, I’m on a break from work. I’m getting stuff done, and am currently in the top 3 for stats this month of our website development team. But I’m sitting here in pain, and wanting nothing more than to go crawl into bed. I think a lot of people with chronic illness kind of over compensate for where we feel we’ve failed. I work extra hard to prove I can still do my job, and do it well. I push myself through social gatherings, and family events. But there’s a certain point where you just need to listen to your body and take a time out for yourself – whether it’s for physical benefit or mental benefit.
You’re so right about living behind a facade, Erinn. I do it too. I also live nearly every day in constant pain, and I rarely say anything because I figure people would get tired of hearing it. But then the result is that the people around me have no real clue as to what I actually live with on a daily basis.
If she feels “unauthentic”, she can ask tips to Tom “Authentic” Hiddleston.
The world does revolve around TS.
Selena’ s message was pretty clear
She was the collateral damage in the Kimye/Taylor blowup…it probably hasn’t sat well with her.
She literally did that to herself.
I can never take gossip seriously with Selena. She is is so young in my mind and only reminds me of Witches of Waverly place, which my daughter watched when she was younger. Same with Miley Cyrus and anyone from the boy bands. They can proclaim stuff all day and I just want to pat them on their heads and say “shhhhhhhh”. I know thats patronizing but I can’t help it. And I don’t mean to trivialize Selena’s Lupus either, just other gossip relating to her.
Whatever’s going on, I hope she’s okay.
Its sad to hear about her disease. I had no idea she suffered from that or what even lupus is. As for her note I dont think it has anything to do with Taylor though.. why would it be ?
Selena does seem to be more fragile and emotional/honest than a lot of her peers, add the health concerns and imo not really having a set style of music/persona and I could see how she’d sometimes feel confused and want to retreat.
Hopefully it’s not a health scare and she has people supporting her.
I havent paid much attention to her music but her concert costuming seems like a terrible idea. Sparkly leotards and stockings are such a Beyonce trademark, you are surely inviting comparisons if you dont individualise the look in some clever way.
I knew nothing about Lupus until I met my husband. His mother has it, and it was really eye opening for me to see how much it affects her and also the people around her. It was super hard on the whole family when it was diagnosed and was a big lifestyle change for them. I know that it presents itself differently in each person that has it, and that it’s not a “cookie cutter” illness. If Selena suffers with it in any way like my mother in law does, touring and being so busy is probably really hard on her. She gets no snark from me on this one and I hope she is doing well.
Maybe she really does have lupus. All seriousness, not even gonna question that because you can still have addiction issues and suffer a conic disease.
But that whole taylor and Kanye fued she said some pretty disheartening things. I get Selena wanted people to drop it and not feed the media pigs by saying ” post stuff that matters.” And when fans question her and mention #blacklivesmatter movement and the Orlando massacre. She refrain to say anythung about those issues while other celebs have in the past. She flip out and responded very negative and extremely disrespectful. It seem like she was attacking supporters. Also how can she do that than tweet about donating to lupus? Hypocritical behavior
I get why she wants to support lupus because she suffers the disease. But she also has fans who are maybe dealing with issues in regards to BLM and gay rights. She should have responded better and with more class.
I just got diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder (significantly milder than lupus, thankfully), but it is remarkable how much you have to change the way you live to keep your body under control. I imagine living with something like lupus makes even basic routines a lot harder, much less a touring schedule.
I have a soft spot for Gomez. She does some dumb sh*t sometimes, but man…I think about how long it took *me* to really grow up and be a responsible and empathetic adult, and I have no idea how some of these child stars manage to become functioning human beings after being used like that so young.
I really feel for her if she does have lupus. I have a very dear friend who passed from lupus at a very young 40. She did everything right with food, drugs, everything and was ok 1 day, in the hospital the next day, passed the 3rd day. I have early onset RA, may have to be treated very aggressively in the future. I try to deal with the pain as I want to have kids. My point is, I hope she is not hiding behind an autoimmune disorder to hide other stuff. That would be pretty awful.
Could also be Christina Grimmie related. Autopsy results were just released, and it’s only been a month and a half since she died so Gomez has only had so much time to process. Add a disease, tour pressures, and an embarrassing foray into the Taylor/Kanye tempest in a teapot and I see why anyone would need to do some rethinking.