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Selena Gomez ‘Using’ The Weeknd ‘Romance’ To Promote Her Upcoming Album, Boost Image [Report]

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 04:13 PST, Jan 23, 2017

Something for The Weeknd to think about? His new girlfriend Selena Gomez has been accused of hooking up with the Starboy singer to promote her upcoming music releases and boost her profile.

So say The Weekend’s very recent ex, supermodel Bella Hadid, and Gomez’s superstar ex, Justin Bieber.

Pictures of The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) and Gomez kissing behind a dumpster outside a Santa Monica restaurant after a three-hour dinner date in full view of paparazzi surfaced on Wednesday, January 11. It was subsequently reported that the eatery is a favorite spot for paps.

Within hours of publication of the pictures, Hadid unfollowed Gomez on Instagram. While it was Bella who ended her 18-month romance with The Weeknd last November, E! News is reporting that the model still has feelings for him.

“She is actually not over The Weeknd. She still loves him,” a source said of Bella to E! Online

The source went on, “They are on fine terms, but she is bitter about the romance with Selena. She was not happy when all of that gossip went everywhere between The Weeknd and Selena.”

They added, “It really hurt her seeing Selena be all up on her man. She still feels like they have a connection.”

Fast forward to Us Weekly reporting one week later that Bella has called her ex a number of times to warn him that Selena has a pattern of using the guys she dates for her own personal advantage.

“Bella has reached out to Abel a few times and told him Selena is using him,” a source close to Hadid told the magazine.

However, the outlet adds, “He thinks she’s just jealous and isn’t listening to her.”

Us Weekly’s story follows TMZ reporting that Bella felt “betrayed” by her ex and Selena moving on so quickly. In addition, the model reportedly thinks Gomez broke “Girl Code.”

Gomez, Bella, and her supermodel sister Gigi are members of Taylor Swift’s squad. Almost immediately after Bella’s “Girl Code” accusation, Selena’s PR team fielded statements to Us Weekly, People, and the pro-Gomez E! News that downplayed Selena’s ties to the Hadids to “acquaintances.”

These denials of closeness between Gomez and the sisters went some way to counteracting the widespread incredulity that Gomez — who was previously, at least, friendly with the Hadids — and Abel, left Bella to find out they were a couple through paparazzi pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIDqCeN8CA

Bella’s “using” slam comes after TMZ reported Bieber sources say the singer also thinks his former girlfriend is “using” The Weeknd to promote her music and career.

TMZ also claims sources say the singer believes his ex has an M.O. of dating famous work collaborators or names before she puts out new music to pump up interest in her brand and image.

Many agree with Bella and Justin and think Gomez’s dating history speaks for itself.

Notably, talk show queen Wendy Williams did not hold back last week when she discussed what she called Selena’s “manufactured” romance with The Weeknd.

Scroll to 14:07 minutes on the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzy-r2rCPPc

Unaware of what Us Weekly are calling Gomez’s “pattern”? Back in the starlet’s early Disney days, Selena dated Nick Jonas, the ex of her then-good friend Miley Cyrus.

Selena then moved on to Bieber, who she dated on and off for four years from 2010. Their angsty teenage romance filled headlines. In January of 2015, Gomez attended the Golden Globes with dance producer Zedd.

The starlet and her team repeatedly teased a “romance” between the pair for months before dropping their track “I Want You to Know” in March of 2015. In December, Us Weekly reported Gomez was spotted making out with One Direction’s Niall Horan at a celebrity birthday party for Jenna Dewan Tatum.

Last May, the rumor mill started linking Charlie Puth with Gomez during the build up to the release of their duet “We Don’t Talk Anymore.” However, it’s not thought they ever hooked up.

Selena and The Weeknd’s paparazzi pictures were immediately followed by a blitz of publicity-generating moments over consecutive days.

These stunts included Abel tweeting out a teaser for his new “Party Monster” music video just hours after the kissing photos surfaced last Wednesday.

A day later (January 12), a topless photo of Gomez in a thong was posted by famed photographer, Mert Alas.

It provided a convenient viral visual to accompany a lyric seemingly referring to Gomez’s derrière in The Weeknd’s latest single and was clearly designed to capitalize on the later drop of his “Party Monster” music video, which arrived just hours after the thong shot ignited the internet.

Gomez was spotted outside Hillsong church in Los Angeles two days later.

A screenshot of her hand-held phone just happened to show she was listening to Abel’s latest Starboy album.

Is that mutually agreed promotion at work or a coincidence?

While it is easy to write off Bieber and Hadid’s warnings as simply jealousy talking, it is worth noting that the world of showbusiness is well known for its showmances. Think Rock Hudson and his female gal pals of the day, right through to Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart pretending they were still together post-cheating scandal until the franchise ended.

More recently, Drake and Jennifer Lopez’s new relationship has certainly arrived at a timely moment, given that the pair will soon be releasing a new collaboration.

Meanwhile, E! News — the network has an access agreement with Gomez’s team — is already giving her and The Weeknd’s romance the hard sell and cast them as the latest power couple. Handily, their “relationship” is already stoking speculation about Gomez’s upcoming album and vamping up her comeback following her second stint in rehab last year.

[Featured Image by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images]

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