Before starting, I’m going to make one thing clear, I don’t care if you are team Selena or team Hailey.
I don’t care if you have been a fan of Selena Gomez, Hailey Bieber or Justin Bieber your entire life, I also don’t care about their relationships with Justin or what went on behind the scenes, nor does it matter. In all honesty, these celebrities don’t interest me.
The Selena vs. Hailey drama has been all over the internet for the past few weeks, but it has also been intensifying for years. They have been gaining more and more traction because of their respective fan bases, while outsiders feel the need to insert themselves into their lives.
The fact of the matter is that society’s opinions do not matter because it is not up to random people to judge these people’s lives. Moreover, they have pit two successful, strong women up against each other in situations that are mostly left for speculation.
What’s even going on?
If you need a recap, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez dated on and off for eight years before ending things permanently in 2018, and six months later, he married Hailey.
Fans have been relentlessly analyzing every move Selena and Hailey have made since, often accusing the two of throwing shade at each other, but in reality, fans do this in hopes the two actually throw shade at each other.
Fans have also flooded our feeds with pictures of Hailey at Justin’s events but how Justin is absent at hers. Comparisons of Justin and Selena’s songs or their activity on their social media accounts have also created drama in situations where it’s not clear what’s happening behind the scenes.
The speculation came to a head in the past month when Hailey and Kylie Jenner were accused of mocking Selena’s eyebrows because, apparently, that is so pressing that the internet needs to lose their minds over it.
Selena has repeatedly stated that there is no bad blood between the two, and Hailey has received backlash, saying she is a “mean girl” or hyper-fixated on Justin for the duration of his previous relationship.
Now that that’s out of the way, are the details of that story really the point of what’s going on? Not in the slightest.
Then what’s the point?
The glaring takeaway of this is that the internet is pitting two women against each other; comparing their personalities, careers and their past interviews, even going back a decade to when they were teenagers.
Why does the internet or anyone need to pick a side to be on? Why does one woman have to be shamed and the other praised when in reality, there is no way of telling what is really going on between them?
The center of this debacle is not the storyline, not what fans conjured, but the fact that two women are being torn apart to justify one man’s decisions.
For example, one of the main talking points behind this was Justin’s recent 29th birthday party and how he allegedly took a dig at Selena by handing out silver lighters with the following quote, “I’m so thankful that I didn’t end up with what I thought I wanted.”
Some fans believe that this was done by Hailey, even though there is no proof of this.
Fans fail to acknowledge that the quote could mean that he is grateful for the life he is living now and not how he was living before. What’s the point of taking a shot at a person who was not even in attendance at the party or an active part of your life?
Then again, if this is the case, fans need to hold Justin accountable rather than attack someone who did nothing. Why does Justin get off free while fans attack his wife?
Another example is that fans are continuously bashing Hailey for being jealous of his husband’s former relationship, yet for whatever reason, Justin himself has not come out and put an end to these rumours.
It is bizarre to me that Justin has not released a statement putting a definitive end to this by telling people to leave everyone alone by confirming there is no bad blood. Instead, he has left his wife receiving the brunt of the criticism while he stays quiet.
A big reason why this story has blown out of proportion is that the Biebers have not defended themselves but instead have added fuel to the fire by releasing petty content (eyebrows, lighters), and Selena has been the only one trying to weather the storm.
For example, Selena commented on Kylie’s post, saying she was actually a fan of hers and that there was no animosity there. So why is the one man involved in this fiasco excused for his role while the women involved are subjected to all the hate?
So what is there to care about?
Frankly, nothing. No one should pry into what is going on between the three of them. Whether there is bad blood or not, it should be handled offline, and the longer the couple stays silent, the longer this ridiculousness will go on.
In the grand scheme of things, who actually cares about this? If these people’s fan bases are only focused on picking a favourite and painting the other as a villain then they are not interested in putting an end to this story. They are just looking to tear someone down to make another look better.
No one on the internet has the right to judge people’s relationships when they are just observers, it is between those involved to sort out whatever is going on. It’s not like these fans will miraculously uncover the exact details of what has happened; the truth is no one is ever going to know exactly what has happened throughout these past five years.
At the end of the day, this is not a story about the petty events going on and those involved, it is about shaming two women to justify a man’s lackadaisical actions.