You have heard the name “Selena Gomez.” You have seen her adorable face pop up from time to time. You may have even seen her in any number of television shows, movies, and music videos. But who is this young lady born Selena Marie Gomez on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas? With a net worth somewhere around $75 million before she even reached 30 years old, this actress, singer, songwriter, and TV producer has lived quite an exciting life. Let’s take a peep inside her amusement part of entertainment and celebrity. Shall we?
Growing Up as a Gomez in Texas
Did you know that Selena Gomez’s mom Amanda Dawn “Mandy” Cornett, was a former actress on the theater stage? Named after Selena Quintanilla, the Tejano singer, her mother gave birth to Selena at age 16, and her father, Ricardo Joel Gomez, is of Mexican descent while her mother, who was adopted is partially Italian. But her parent’s union only lasted until young Selena was five-years-old and then they called it quits.
Selena Gomez refers to herself as a ‘proud third-generation American-Mexican’ and is relieved that she was able to make it out safely from her financially-stressed upbringing where money was definitely an issue for her young parents.
Interested in Entertainment
The seed was deeply planted in Selena Gomez’s mind to have a career in the entertainment industry while watching her mother prepare for theater stage productions. Selena began auditioning and landed a role on the children’s television Barney & Friends as Gianna, which she maintained for a total of two years.
Selena would split her time between the big and small screens, doing films like Spy Kids 3-D:: Game Over in 2003 and Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire in 2006, along with recording a song that was used with the show.
Selena Gomez’s association with the Disney Channel happened in the late 2000s. She had roles in a pair of Disney Channel movies, Princess Protection Program in 2009, and she starred in the Emmy Award-winning television show, Wizards of Waverly Place. But by no means was Selena Gomez going to stop her star from shining in the music arena.
She balanced her acting opportunities with a stronger push into music by recording her own cover version of “Cruella de Vil” for DisneyMania 6 and three songs for the soundtrack of the movie Another Cinderella Story that she also acted in.
Selena’s Debut Album
The year of 2008 was a big one on the road to music stardom for Selena. The ink dried on the recording contract that she signed with Hollywood Records by September 2009, she had her new album in stores called “Kiss and Tell” that was successful enough to gain a Gold certification with her style of EDM electropop. She also formed a band the same year, “Selena Gomez & The Scene” with which she released three albums.
She would continue releasing albums for the next few years, A Year Without Rain in 2010, When the Sun Goes Down in 2011, Stars Dance in 2013, Revival in 2015, and Rare in 2020. Some of her best songs include Past Life with Trevor Daniels, Lose You to Love Me, Back to You, Look at Her Now, Good for You, Same Old Love, and Feel Me. Lose You to Love Me reached the top of the Billboard 200 chart and Come and Get It earned her an MTV Video Music Award for best pop video.
Spring Breakers and Behaving Badly
Ready to grow out of her cutesy Disney image and head into more adult roles, she joined the cast of the gutsy comedic crime thriller Spring Speakers starring James Franco in 2013, the action-thriller Getaway with Ethan Hawke, and the comedy Behaving Badly with Mary-Louis Parker.
If you are wondering who has inspired Selena Gomez musically, she has counted Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Beyoncé as some of the pop star ladies that have helped her find herself on the microphone.
Selena’s Relationships
Taylor Lautner: 2009
Selena dated actor and heartthrob Taylor Lautner after meeting while she was filming Ramona and Beezus, and he was filming a movie that would generate fanatical fame for him, Twilight: New Moon. Selena Gomez was staying in the same hotel as Twilight: New Moon co-star Kristen Stewart and met Taylor when he would stop by to visit Kristin. Things sort of fizzled out one the media scrutiny got in the way.
Justin Bieber: December 2010–April 2014, June 2014–October 2014, and October 2017–March 2018
The mega-star Canadian singer Justin Bieber would be the boyfriend that got away, and then returned, and then got away again, and then made a comeback and returned, and would get away a third time for his grand finale. Between December 2010 and March 2018, Justin and Selena the ultimate young power couple – until the day that they weren’t anymore.
Justin’s thing with Kylie Jenner didn’t go over well with Selena Gomez or that time when actor Orlando Bloom was seen getting close with Gomez, or when she was dating the ultra-famous The Weekend. But by March 2018, Justin had his undivided attention on Hailey Baldwin, who he is married to, and Selena Gomez was recording break-up records about the Biebs. It is the same to say that what was once considered unconditional love between Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez is officially over.
Orlando Bloom: April 2014 and May 2016
Who says Selena Gomez doesn’t like much older men? How about the fact that Selena was born in 1992, and British actor Orlando Bloom was born in 1977? news reports were popping up, saying that Orlando and Selena hooked up in order to stir up a little bit of old-fashioned jealousy for the significant others in their lives – Miranda Kerr in the case of Orlando Bloom and Justin Bieber in the case of Selena Gomez.
Zedd: January–March 2015
The Russian-German record producer and DJ known simply as Zedd went from popping up in Instagram pics with Selena, working on music together to actually dating. Especially when considering that they probably weren’t recording much music that day when Zedd posted a picture of Selena Gomez in bed. The heat surrounding Zedd and Gomez might have gotten a little too out of control for him when reports began harassing his parents for intel, and his friend’s phones started getting hacked.
Samuel Krost: January 2016
Samuel Krost, the talent booker for that infamous Fyre Festival that never launched properly and friend of fashion model Gigi Hadid, started his year of 2016 off with Selena Gomez by his side – just for a month though.
Charlie Puth: March 2016
Selena Gomez would end up having another romance that wouldn’t last longer than a month in the first quarter of 2016. Singer/songwriter/producer Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez tried and failed to keep their relationship a secret, with Charlie calling it short “but very impactful.” It is safe to assume that he may have been competing for Selena’s affection at the time, especially considering he once yelled: “F*ck you, Justin Bieber” in the midst of a concert during that month of March 2016. during a concert that month.
The Weeknd: January 2017–October 2017
Kissing in front of dumpsters may not do much for our love lives. But when the lips belong to superstars like Selena Gomez and Toronto’s R & B singing phenomenon – The Weeknd – the internet will go nuts in a good way. This A-List kiss is exactly what happened when these two smooched in sunny Santa Monica, California, and the picture was viewed all around the world.
The Weeknd’s ex-girlfriend Bella Hadid must have felt the need for some jealousy-inspired sexy photo posting in response to his rebound romancing with Selena. Things would only get more interesting when The Weeknd and Selena Gomez were seen kissing on a yacht in Italy, and we linked together at New York City’s famous Met Gala event.
Battling Lupus
As 2014 was getting off to a start in January, celebrity news outlets began circulating reports that Selena Gomez had already been battling lupus for over the years, which is an autoimmune disease with many harsh side-effects such as joint pain, facial swelling, headaches, and fatigue. It got so serious that in September 2017, Gomez revealed that she had to undergo a kidney transplant, and her friend and roommate Francia Raisa was the donor.
To make matters even more serious, Selena reportedly broke an artery during the course of her kidney transplant and had to have emergency surgery in order to build a totally new artery by making use of a vein from inside her leg.
Then on April 3, 2020, Selena Gomez shares that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She explained how she went to the McLean Hospital and got more information regarding her mental health situation to make aware of the fear of what it entails. Her courage to be open and honest, even if it meant being judged harshly, showed even more how relatable she is to young people and adults alike.
Especially during this time when the coronavirus was just starting to kick-off and information about the COVID-19 pandemic was still slowly being unleashed little by little, it was comforting for people to be reminded by someone young, rich, and famous that she too had health issues that she was facing and we are not alone in our personal struggles, no matter how isolated we may feel as individuals, whether physically or mentally in our everyday lives.
UNICEF and Charity Work
Since at least 2008, Selena Gomez has been active in participating with UNICEF, encouraging kids to go out and make a difference in the world. In October 2008, she was named UNICEF’s spokesperson for the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign, and a year later, Selena found herself becoming the youngest UNICEF ambassador of all time at 1-years-old until actress Millie Bobby Brown from the hit Netflix 1980s pop culture-inspired series Stranger Things became the youngest at age 14.
Selena Gomez hasn’t just been a famous face for UNICEF to use for advertising purposes. Gomez had her first official field mission on September 4, 2009, when she traveled to Ghana, seeing how vulnerable the children there, lacking essential necessities like clean water, healthcare, education, and nutrition.
For the second year in a row, Selena Gomez became the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign spokesperson in 2009 after raising over $700,000 for the charity in 2008. She also returned in 2010, helping UNICEF celebrate their 60th anniversary.
Then in February 2011, Selena Gomez packed her bags and flew over to Chile to meet with the families of UNICEF’s “Programa Puente” program, whose work is executed in order to assist families who helped families develop the needed skills to cope effectively with issues related to early childhood education and development problems, in order to escape poverty and prevent violence.
As an ambassador of DoSomething.org, Gomez got involved with the Island Dog charity, which helps dogs in Puerto Rico, which began while she was on the island filming Wizard of Waverly Place: The Movie. She also gets involved with RAISE and their Enough Project, a charity focused on raising awareness about violence against women in the Congo.
Selena Gomez has even given back to charities by going back to the house of Disney between 2009 and 2012 for “Disney’s Friends for Change” the promotes “environmentally-friendly behavior,” and she has appeared in public service announcements connected to “Disney’s Friends for Change” and recorded a song for them with the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, and Demi Lovato.
Gomez’s Growth
From a young age, this rare beauty has managed to rise above her rough early upbringing with her parents splitting up, her mother being a teen-aged parent, and having financial limitations. She found a way to move inside the Disney system to catapult herself into three different worlds of the entertainment industry: television, music, and film.
But she still made time to give back to the world at large but making charity a key component in her time spent working outside of fame and fortune. It also helps that she has never had any trouble making the headline news, even if it regarded the public’s fascination over who she is dating at any given time.
Having just celebrated her 28th birthday, Selena Gomez has much more life in front of her and many more goals that she can cross off her bucket list, if they haven’t been achieved already. Stay tuned to see her next move for yourself — and hopefully, that includes some new music or at least more TikTok videos!
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