Selena Gomez’s past relationship with Justin Bieber may seem like old news, but a past comment has resurfaced on TikTok about their time together, and Selena’s response is pretty heartbreaking. On Nov. 29, TikTok user @donttellmymomma.fr posted a video featuring old paparazzi photos of Gomez with text overlay reading, “The reason why Selena is always skinny when she dates Justin.”
At the end of the video, a screenshot of an old Instagram comment appears to show Gomez saying, “[He’d] rather models. I’m just too normal.” On Dec. 11, Gomez commented on the TikTok, simply putting a sad emoji. Her Campus reached out to both Gomez and Bieber’s teams for comment but didn’t hear back by the time of publication.
While Justin has been married to Hailey Bieber since 2018, the internet still can’t seem to let go of his years-long, on-again-off-again relationship with Gomez. While Gomez hasn’t spoken much about her relationship with Bieber recently, Hailey Bieber spoke up about the backlash she experienced from fans when the pair started dating on a Sept. 28 episode of Call Her Daddy, squashing any rumors that Justin had cheated on Gomez with her. Hailey said, “When him and I ever started like hooking up or like anything of that sort, he was not ever in a relationship ever, at any point. It’s not my character to mess with someone’s relationship. I would just never do that. I was raised better than that. I’m not interested in doing that and I never was.”
As far as the TikTok about Gomez’s weight goes, this sentiment unfortunately echoes the feeling that many young girls face: the pressure to look perfect in order to be loved. While this is absolutely untrue, it’s an all-too-familiar feeling for girls growing up in the age of overly-edited Instagram pictures that feed into an unrealistic standard of needing to look like a model at all times.
To no one’s surprise, the TikTok went viral, with many fans commenting about how upsetting Selena’s original comment was. And while many users expressed empathy for Selena’s apparent sadness over the situation, others saw her comment as an attempt to stir the pot.
How Gomez felt during that time in her life is her own story to tell, and she’s entitled to comment on it. For years, she’s faced internet trolls commenting on her weight, which, unfortunately, is a reality that many women in the public eye face. She’s been vocal about her battle with lupus and how that has affected her weight. And in her Apple TV+ documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, Gomez shared more of her journey with her mental and physical health.
Many women and young girls today struggle with body image issues, and by speaking out about her own, Gomez is shedding light on something a lot of people are afraid to speak out about. Haters can call her petty, but Gomez is simply sharing her truth.