In a new interview for Harper’s Bazaar, SelGo is a totally open book.

In conversation with 13 Reasons Why star Katherine Langford, the pop culture icon opened up about her struggle with anxiety and depression—something she’s been vocal about since the beginning of her career—as well as her love-hate relationship with Instagram, on which she remains one of the most-followed accounts of all time.

Having recently undergone a two-week treatment for anxiety and depression, determined to prioritize her health and well-being in 2018. However, Gomez told Langford she doesn’t think her mental health issues are something she’ll ever be without. “There won’t be a day when I’m like, ‘Here I am in a pretty dress—I won!’,” Gomez said. “I think it’s a battle I’m gonna have to face for the rest of my life, and I’m OK with that because I know that I’m choosing myself over anything else. I’m starting my year off with that thought. I want to make sure I’m healthy. If that’s good, everything else will fall into place.”

Gomez is constantly asked why it’s taking so long for her to release new music, and to that she says, “If that takes 10 years, then it takes 10 years. I don’t care. Right now I just want to be super intentional with all of the things I’m doing.” She also doesn’t think the music she has on the back burner is anywhere near ready for release: “I don’t feel confident enough in where my music is yet,” Gomez explained.

Despite having eight out of the 10 most-liked Instagram pictures of 2016, Gomez sees the social media site as both a blessing and a curse. “It’s an incredible platform, but in a lot of ways it’s given young people, myself included, a false representation of what’s important. So, yeah, it’s a complex relationship. Probably one of my most difficult relationships,” Gomez said.

Alternatively, Gomez likes Instagram because it allows her to own what’s said about her in the media: “It has given me a voice amid all the noise of people trying to narrate my life for me and allows me to say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna post this, and this is gonna take care of the 1,200 stories that people think are interesting but actually aren’t, and aren’t even true. It empowers me in that way because it’s my words and my voice and my truth.”

@harpersbazaarus

A post shared by Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) on

At the end of the day, the singer sticks with using social media because it makes her feel less alone. “Thanks to the Internet, no matter who you are, you know you’re not alone. Maybe a young boy or girl growing up in the South or wherever is confused and terrified to be who they are because they don’t think it’s right. Now they can see all around them people living free of pain, of hidden agendas, of secrets,” she says. “I think secrets kill people, I really do. You end up trying to cover up so much of who you are for the sake of your family or whoever, and you think you’re bad for being different. So it’s powerful to see our generation breaking those boundaries and encouraging other people to do the same. There’s a sense of freedom that past generations weren’t able to have.”

 

Filed under: Selena Gomez