The most followed user on Instagram doesn’t even run her own account? Selena Gomez, who boasts 113 million followers on Instagram, revealed in an interview with Vogue that not only does her assistant run her account but she also doesn’t have the app or know her password.
“As soon as I became the most followed person on Instagram, I sort of freaked out,” Gomez said. “It had become so consuming to me. It’s what I woke up to and went to sleep to.”
Gomez continued, explaining the negative impact the social media platform had on her mental health and self-esteem. “I was an addict, and it felt like I was seeing things I didn’t want to see, like it was putting things in my head that I didn’t want to care about,” she said. “I always end up feeling like shit when I look at Instagram. Which is why I’m kind of under the radar, ghosting it a bit.”
Gomez took a three-month-long hiatus last fall and checked into a psychiatric facility in Tennessee, surrendering her phone in the process. Presumably since then, her Instagram and other social media accounts have not been in her control. In fact, according to Selena, she wishes she could disappear from social media altogether.
Selena’s digital disconnect doesn’t end with Instagram. She currently doesn’t have much contact with the outside world and lives off the grid in an Airbnb in the Valley. “I think seventeen people have my phone number right now,” she told the magazine. “Maybe two are famous.”
Her break from Instagram just proves once again how honest she is with herself and her fans, not to mention her relatability. Who hasn’t wasted an hour scrolling through Instagram, feeling their self-esteem evaporate with each new photo of someone else’s “perfect life”?
“People so badly wanted me to be authentic and when that happened, finally, it was a huge release,” Selena admitted. “I’m not different from what I put out there. I’ve been very vulnerable with my fans, and sometimes I say things I shouldn’t. But I have to be honest with them. I feel that’s a huge part of why I’m where I am.”