At the recently held TIME100 Summit, Selena Gomez held nothing back in a refreshingly candid discussion about her personal journey.
The multi-hyphenate star opened up about the liberating powers of digital detoxes, rejecting unrealistic beauty standards, and finding strength in her mental health struggles.
One of the things she talked about during the event was how stepping away from social media proved to be a crucial act of self-care for her. “I took four years off of Instagram and I let my team post for me for those years. It was the most rewarding gift I gave myself.”
The 31-year-old said she was “more present” and “happier” in the real world and that it allowed her to truly connect with others’ experiences.
While she has cautiously rejoined Instagram, the platform’s most followed woman is firmly committed to preserving boundaries.
“I just – I find it frustrating and then I get a little mouthy, and I wanna defend people I love,” she admitted of her occasional clapbacks. “It’s important to take breaks. I don’t really pay much attention.”
Selena Gomez also talked about her mission to dismantle toxic beauty myths through her makeup line Rare Beauty.
“I don’t know how to do makeup and I have a makeup line,” she said with a laugh. “I genuinely just wanted to make makeup that was fun for people. I don’t believe in having to look a certain way.”
According to the former Disney star, after years of being trapped in an “unrealistic standard” herself, she is done with “wasting time” on impossible ideals. “I spent years trying to do that and it just – it’s draining.”
Furthermore, Selena Gomez reflected on going public with her bipolar depression diagnosis back in 2020. “It’s actually a bit freeing once I was able to get it out,” she explained of the years spent grappling with misunderstood “intense emotions” and psychosis episodes.
“Once I finally found the answer, it wasn’t, ‘Oh, I have this problem.’ It actually made me feel better to know and understand what was happening in my mind,” Gomez stated. “And I actually found it to be less scary.”
