Selena Gomez on her kidney donor: Sorry I didnt mention every person I know
After watching Selena Gomez’s documentary and reading her Rolling Stone feature, I didn’t think there was any newsworthy interpersonal drama in there, but here we are. In the Rolling Stone article, Selena discusses her fears around the fact that she is not yet married with children at her age. “And it was hard to share these fears with people whose lives hadn’t been derailed by fame, even as, she says, ‘I never fit in with a cool group of girls that were celebrities. My only friend in the industry really is Taylor [Swift], so I remember feeling like I didn’t belong. I felt the presence of everyone around me living full lives.'” My read was, on that topic, Selena felt she couldn’t relate to “normal” people who had those things, or to her peers who didn’t.
Of course, various stories, mine included, noticed that Taylor Swift mention. Francia Raisa, the actress who donated her kidney to Selena in 2017, took issue with the headline and commented/deleted “interesting” on an E! News post. Selena then commented on a TikTok recap about the situation: “Sorry I didn’t mention every person I know.” Yikes.
Selena Gomez is speaking out over drama being stirred on social media and a possible feud with friend Francia Raisa, who donated her kidney to the singer.
The drama was first sparked by a cover interview Gomez did with Rolling Stone in which she talked about feeling like a bit of an outcast in the music business.
“I never fit in with a cool group of girls that were celebrities. My only friend in the industry really is Taylor [Swift], so I remember feeling like I didn’t belong,” Gomez shared.
A select portion of that quote — “My only friend in the industry really is Taylor [Swift]” — was then shared on Instagram as a highlight of the interview. Raisa then posted a since-deleted comment that read, simply and cryptically, “Interesting.”
When one TikTok user shared a video breaking down the supposed drama — including the fact that Raisa does not follow Gomez on Instagram — Gomez herself took to the comments of that TikTok video to address the supposed friction.
“Sorry I didn’t mention every person I know,” Gomez commented.
Raisa and Gomez have been friends for nearly 15 years, and Raisa donated her kidney to Gomez — who needed a transplant due to her battle with lupus — in September 2017.
However, on top of the drama surrounding Gomez’s interview quote, fans were also quick to point out that Raisa is not mentioned in the recently released documentary, My Mind and Me, which details Gomez’s struggles with mental health issues over the past six years.
So, I didn’t think Selena’s initial statement about Taylor Swift was an intended or unintended slight. And that’s with me knowing she got a kidney transplant from Francia Raisa from Secret Life of the American Teenager/grownish/How I Met Your Father. When I read it, my immediate thought was “yeah, that tracks” because Selena doesn’t seem to run in those “young Hollywood” (or I guess millennial Hollywood) circles anymore, mostly since her breakup with Biebs. I thought of her statement as referring to people with the same kind of public profile as her, which Taylor does have; and which her other known celeb friends, like Cara Delevingne and Francia Raisa, definitely don’t. And it’s possible she thinks of Francia as more than an industry friend. Who among us doesn’t have work friends, school friends, workout friends, mom friends, friend friends, etc?
That said, Selena’s clapback was an absolutely terrible look. She and Francia have reportedly had their ups and downs since the transplant and Francia obviously felt hurt to comment what she did. But Selena’s defensive sniping turned what should have just been a statement taken out of context into unseemly drama. Her response was not to Francia directly — it was on the TikTok that someone else made about Francia commenting on the E! News post and unfollowing Selena — and who knows whether or not they’ve talked privately, but that seems to be getting a bit lost in the coverage. Selena was possibly annoyed that the focus was on this and not the mental health messages from her documentary, but giving this more oxygen with her rude comment was just bad and contradicts her messaging. I really like Selena, but one thing that’s always bugged me is how sanitized her overall public image is, when we know she does sh-tty stuff like this sometimes. Part of being honest and transparent is recognizing when you’re a jerk and owning up to your mistakes, instead of just glossing over it.
Photos credit: Cover Images and Getty
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