Look At Her Now! – A Modern Fairy tale story of Selena Gomez
In November 2019, Selena Gomez was the opening performance for American Music Awards. This was her comeback performance after nearly five years. She was set to perform two of her recent hits – ‘Lose You to Love Me’ and ‘Look at Her Now’. However, when she started to perform, it sounded extremely offbeat and pitchy. Social media immediately went on to troll Selena claiming how she can not sing and her comeback is a flop. What people did not know is that she had a panic attack minutes before going out to perform. Yet she stepped out with a smile and delivered the performance.
Selena Gomez is one of the most famous personalities to come out of the Disney stardom. She is also one of the most famous social media personalities. Being one of the most-followed people in social media comes with its attached consequences. All her moves are monitored and scrutinized, her entire life is out for people to dissect and comment on. She has often talked about the negative effects of social media on her mental health, and she has also talked about her struggles with anxiety and depression.
She went off social media a few years back to fully work on her mental health issues. To add to that, she was still trying to cope with her famous breakup with Justin Bieber. She went through the breakup publicly, which means she was constantly asked about it. She had to see him get married to someone else and also be criticized at the same time.
It might seem like being a public figure is all about money, travel and pretty dresses. But it is more than that. Being a public figure makes you an open target to the entire world – to talk about you, make opinions about you and criticize you. Battling anxiety and depression is already hard – and when you go through it publicly, it is even worse. Selena Gomez has been a role model to many women and girls that grew up watching her. Showing that she has her weaknesses and struggles makes her more relatable and strong. She has only shown growth and patience with herself, despite being scrutinized continuously,
She was diagnosed with lupus and had to go through a life-threatening kidney transplant and people were still calling it a publicity stunt. In return, she asked her fans to be kind and make social media an encouraging space rather than a place to present unachievable beauty standards.
A high-profile celebrity being so open about her struggles with mental health, lupus diagnosis, kidney transplant, and her breakup makes her more real and inspiring. Even the fact that she went on stage despite having a panic attack and realizing quite well that she sounds bad, makes her brave and courageous. Most of all, making it normal to talk about your weaknesses and struggles and choosing kindness above all is something we must all learn from her.
Selena Gomez did not give up on herself despite being diagnosed with anxiety and depression. She went on to treat herself – she learned about therapy. She decided to help herself and then also help others with the same. We should also not give up on ourselves. We must learn to love ourselves even when the whole world starts to hate us.
