Selena Gomez says meeting an 8-year-old boy with lupus made her understand why she went through her own illness
"One story that will forever be in my mind to the day I die was this young boy. He was 8 years old and he was in the hospital. He had lupus and he was waiting to get diagnosed and also for a transplant. I had experienced both"
"When I walked into the room, he kept looking down and he was very nervous. So I kept asking the mother, 'Is it okay that I'm here? Should I maybe just step out?' And they insisted that he'd like me to stay"
"So I just kind of talked about the surroundings and tried to make him feel comfortable and didn't get in his space"
"And all of a sudden, as I'm rambling on about the drawings on the wall, he just looks down and says, 'Is it true that you have lupus too?'"
"And I looked at him and I said, 'Yes.' And it was the first time that he looked up and he finally acknowledged me"
"I remember thinking, 'That's really powerful.' That's something I register in my mind as that's why I went through it. So I don't look back and feel, 'How miserable, and I can't believe I had to go through that'"
"I look back and say, 'All right, now how can I be there for someone else? What's going to happen to someone who feels the same way?'"
Selena Gomez’s upcoming projects:
• WIZARDS BEYOND WAVERLY PLACE Season 3 (2026)
• ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING Season 6 (2026)
• NOT ALONE w/ Timothée Chalamet (2027)
• HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 5 (2027)
• ORIGIN OF THE WORLD dir. Brady Corbet (2027)
• Linda Ronstadt biopic (TBA)
Benny Blanco says he’s “very proud” of Selena Gomez for speaking out against Trump and ICE:
“I’m very proud. She always stands up for what she cares about and took a very firm stance regarding ICE. It’s ridiculous. It shouldn’t even be necessary to have to take a side on this.”