Selena Gomez opens up about struggle with depression, anxiety in new documentary

Los Angeles, Dec. 11 (IANS): Singer-actress Selena Gomez has always been open about her battle with anxiety and depression over the past six years.

She is now hoping her candid new documentary will help other people speak out, reports ‘The Mirror’.

Explaining why she decided to lay bare her struggles and tumultuous relationship with fame in ‘Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me’, the singer says she wanted to educate young people about the importance of prioritising their mental health.

Selena, 30, says: “I think someone actually asked me if I felt like I did too much. And I’m not going to lie, maybe there were a few moments that were scary to offer up. But at the same time, if you take anything away from this, I hope people understand my purpose here is supposed to be connection.

“I used myself as a sacrifice in order for people to have the hard conversations. But I’m also going to crawl in a hole now for a few months, so nobody sees me for a while. I did too much,” she further says, quoted by ‘The Mirror’.

According to ‘The Mirror’, Selena started her journey to fame aged seven and her TV career took off when she appeared in children’s series ‘Barney & Friends’ aged 10.

In 2007, when she was 15, she was given a starring role on the Disney Channel series ‘Wizards Of Waverly Place’, and the following year she signed a deal with Hollywood Records.

In late 2010, she began dating pop star Justin Bieber, who was 16 at the time. Their on/off romance continued for eight years. In 2013, her profile rocketed with the release of her debut solo album, ‘Stars Dance’.

But in 2016, fame began to take its toll on Selena’s health. After 55 shows on her Revival tour, the star – who was diagnosed with auto-immune disease lupus in 2014 — cancelled the remainder of the gigs to focus on her mental health. In a statement released at the time, she said she was suffering from panic attacks and depression.

In the summer of 2017, complications from lupus led to her getting a kidney transplant from her good friend, actress Francia Raisa.

‘The Mirror’ further states that the following year, in May 2018, Selena split from Justin for good, with rumours suggesting the relationship had been “unhealthy” for a while.

Five months later, the singer was admitted to a psychiatric hospital — and she later revealed she had an episode of psychosis during this time.

In 2020, Selena revealed she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.