Selena Gomez is going on a complete social media hiatus after some TikTok drama involving her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber’s wife Hailey Bieber.
On Thursday, Gomez went on a quick TikTok Live to tell her fans that she’ll be “taking a second” and stepping away from social media completely. The decision comes after she commented on several videos that insinuated bad blood between herself and Hailey.
“I’m going to be taking a second from social media, because this is a little silly. I’m 30 and am too old for this. But I love you so much and I’ll see you guys sooner than later,” she said. “I’m just gonna take a break from everything.”
In a recent Vanity Fair interview, the Only Murders in the Building actress explained how she had completely rid herself of social media except for TikTok, and instead has opted for her assistants to run her digital accounts.
“The world was my high school for the longest time, and I started getting inundated with information that I didn’t want. I went through a hard time in a breakup and I didn’t want to see any of the [feedback] — not necessarily about the relationship, but the opinions of me versus [someone] else,” she told the magazine. “There’d be thousands of really nice comments, but my mind goes straight to the mean one.”
She added, “People can call me ugly or stupid and I’m like, Whatever. But these people get detailed. They write paragraphs that are so specific and mean. I would constantly be crying. I constantly had anxiety…I couldn’t do it anymore. It was a waste of my time.”
Her decision to leave TikTok and social media altogether comes after Gomez found herself in the middle of a familiar narrative between herself and Hailey. Most recently, she commented on a resurfaced video of Hailey seemingly throwing shade (she made a puking face) when hearing a co-host refer to Swift. The TikTok video described Hailey as a “mean girl” and “a bully.”
Under the video, Gomez left a comment defending Swift, writing, “So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game.” Gomez and Swift have long been friends, and Gomez told Rolling Stone in her recent cover story that Swift was her “only friend in the industry.”
“I never fit in with a cool group of girls that were celebrities,” she said at the time. “I remember feeling like I didn’t belong. I felt the presence of everyone around me living full lives. I had this position, and I was really happy, but … was I? Do these materialistic things make me happy? … I just didn’t like who I was, because I didn’t know who I was.”
On Wednesday, a TikToker implied that Kylie Jenner — a close friend of Hailey’s — had shaded Gomez’s eyebrows by writing “This was an accident??” on her Instagram story after the singer shared she had gotten her brows laminated “too much.” Jenner also shared a screenshot of a FaceTime between herself and Hailey soon after.
“This is reaching,” Jenner commented on the video. “No shade towards Selena ever and I didn’t see her eyebrow posts! u guys are making something out of nothing. this is silly.” And Gomez chimed in, too, writing, “Agreed @kyliejenner. It’s all unnecessary. I’m a fan of Kylie!”
Also, on Thursday, under a video of a fan saying she felt “really bad for Selena Gomez” after Bieber married Hailey just months after their breakup, Gomez wrote, “That made me cry. Thank you!” And on a separate TikTok about nepotism babies that referred to Hailey and Jenner, Gomez wrote, “I love you!”
Gomez and Hailey seemed to have squashed their beef after they were photographed hugging at an event at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, though it’s unclear where they stand today.
In September 2022, Hailey went on the Call Her Daddy podcast and shared that there was “no drama” between the two women. “It’s all love. Neither of us owe anybody anything except respect,” she said. “I respect her a lot, and I think there are no expectations [between us]. I respect her.”
This story was updated Feb. 23 at 4:15 pm ET to include Selena Gomez’s decision to take a break from social media altogether.
From Rolling Stone US
