- Selena Gomez told Vanity Fair that she's noticed a change in how fans interact with her recently.
- She said fans talk to her about mental health after her Apple TV+ documentary came out last year.
Selena Gomez said she's glad fans no longer treat her like a "prop" when they meet her in the street following the release of her mental health documentary, "Selena Gomez: My Mind And Me."
Last year, Gomez opened up about her mental health journey in the Apple TV+ documentary, including her experience with bipolar disorder, which she first made public in 2020 in an Instagram Live chat with Miley Cyrus.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the former Disney star said that she has noticed that fans are more engaged with her after the documentary was released in November.
"I was terrified. But after the documentary came out, I started noticing people come up to me, and they weren't like, 'Oh, I want a picture of you.' It was more like, 'Hey, I appreciated that part where you said this,'" Gomez said. "Then I ended up having a five-minute conversation with someone about their journey."
She continued: "That was happening more, and I started to feel good because I wasn't just this prop to people — like, 'You're so cute. Let's take a picture.' It was more than that. It was a conversation about mental health or courage or disappointment or loss. And I started to go, 'This is paying off,' because that's what I want at the end of the day. I'd rather be remembered for my heart than anything else."
"Selena Gomez: My Mind And Me" explores the circumstances surrounding Gomez's mental health breakdown that landed her in a psychiatric hospital in 2018.
According to the documentary, Gomez had to cancel her 2016 "Revival" tour early due to a mental health crisis, which was exacerbated by her health complications. While in the facility, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Also in the Vanity Fair interview, Gomez said that the documentary was freeing because she doesn't feel like she is "lying to people," or hiding information from them out of fear. She also said that revealing her bipolar diagnosis "allowed" her to start "being open about everything."
"I'm just so used to censoring myself that it was (a) me wanting to let go and (b) if they're telling me to be quiet about it, that's not good because that's genuinely not the place I'm in anymore," Gomez said. "I'm not ashamed of it. I don't ever feel, even for five seconds, that I'm crazy. My thoughts tend to ruminate, but it's up to me to be proud of who I am and to take care of myself."
"Selena Gomez: My Mind And Me" is available on Apple TV+.