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Selena Gomez Talks Her Stint In Rehab And Living With Lupus

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 09:18 PST, Apr 14, 2016

Selena Gomez is opening up about her 2014 stint in rehab and her lupus diagnosis for the first time.

During a recent interview for GQ,Gomez talked about her past, and how she is trying to move on from the events that everyone continues to fixate on. Although she was reluctant at first, Selena finally opened up about why she decided to enter rehab, and what it was like being diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease.

“First off, this is something that everyone always wants to fixate on,” the “Same Old Love” singer, 23, told writer Zach Baron. “I got diagnosed with lupus. My mom had a very public miscarriage. So I had to cancel my tour. I needed time to just be OK.” (Gomez’s mom Mandy Teefey suffered a miscarriage in late 2011, leading to the cancellation of many of Selena’s scheduled concerts.)

“I was going through leukemia,” the former Disney star added, although she more than likely meant chemotherapy rather than leukemia. “I went to two different locations for those treatments. It’s really frustrating, because I am 100 percent allowed to have that, but I think people just want to have some sort of— I understand what you’re asking, but I’m just saying, I don’t think it really matters. My past seems to be way more fascinating for people than my future, which bums me out.”

Aside from her brief stint in rehab, Gomez also had to deal with being diagnosed with lupus, something that she kept under wraps for a long time. During the same interview, Selena explained why she finally decided to reveal her diagnosis to the world.

“And there was this kid that wouldn’t look me in the eye at all,” she said, reflecting on a visit to a children’s hospital. “And I wear my emotions on my face, as you just have witnessed. And I don’t care, that’s who I am. I wanted to get his attention, even though maybe it was too much. So I just said, ‘Ask me anything you want.’ And he was the first person that I told, besides my best friend and family, because he asked me, ‘Have you ever dealt with anything like this?’ And I said, ‘I have lupus. I was in the ICU for two and a half weeks. I was in this exact same room.’ And it was the first time that he looked at me.”

“I don’t ever really like to sit and dwell on what that experience was,” Gomez added. “Was it fun? No. Is it fun to have it? No.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, lupus is “a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs.” The disease can affect many different body organs including a person’s joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs.

Below is a list of lupus symptoms:

  • Fatigue and fever
  • Joint pain, stiffness and swelling
  • Butterfly-shaped rash on the face that covers the cheeks and bridge of the nose
  • Skin lesions that appear or worsen with sun exposure (photosensitivity)
  • Fingers and toes that turn white or blue when exposed to cold or during stressful periods (Raynaud’s phenomenon)
  • Shortness of breath
  • Chest pain
  • Dry eyes
  • Headaches, confusion and memory loss

Selena Gomez now has her disease under control, and is preparing to set off on a world tour and forget her past, and she hopes her fans will do the same.

“I just have to be patient,” she said. “It’s slowly dissolving the older I get. And I just have to be patient and make great things with quality, from producing to singing to acting. And one by one, I will be able to change the dialogue and people won’t care about everything that’s happened to me.”

[Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images]

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