Selena Gomez recently released her documentary My Mind and Me, and I have watched it three times already.
The documentary follows Selena throughout her life, with footage filmed as early as 2016. Although I do appreciate the movie centering on Selena, I fell in love with it because of its raw nature and true depictions of mental health.
Gomez has grown up entirely in the spotlight, from her part on Barney and Friends to her Disney days on Wizards of Waverly Place to her music career and beauty line, Rare Beauty. For Gomez, her life has always been on display, with the world questioning her every move, relationship and general sanity.
The documentary gives us a glimpse beyond the curtains of what we see on E! News or TMZ and shows the human being behind the headlines. When we think of celebrities, we often place them on a pedestal, clinging to the impression that nothing ever goes wrong in their picture-perfect lives.
From the beginning of the documentary, Selena opens up the doors and welcomes us into her life. We find her post-soundcheck during the Revival Tour, having an anxiety-fueled breakdown and fearing she isn’t performing well enough. She lists off all the many things that she thought went wrong, just to realize they were all in her head.
In moments like these, we are able to see that the Selena the media presents us with is not the full picture — this is the catalyst for the revelations we gain throughout the course of the film.
Selena opens up about her bipolar disorder and her struggles with keeping her emotions in a fine balance. What I really appreciated about the production of this documentary is that it didn’t shy away from the harsh side of bipolar disorder. There are days when Selena struggles to get out of bed or lashes out at her friends, and the film captures her dealing with these moments and sharing the ways in which she grounds herself.
The movie follows her as she visits her hometown and goes on a service trip to Kenya, allowing herself to experience different cultures and learn about the communities she is trying to help. It comes full circle as we see Selena in 2020, five years since the start of their filming, getting ready to start a happier and healthier chapter of her life. She has grown and can look back at how far she’s come.
I will forever praise this movie because it was emotional and gave an honest depiction of what mental health struggles are like. There is a powerful feeling in seeing someone with as much influence as Selena standing up and showing her true reality and the feelings she experiences.
The movie did not feel as if we were watching her on stage, but as if we were on the journey with her. The highs and lows, ups and downs, we were along for all of it.
Even if you are not a fan, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is dealing with mental health concerns, whether that be depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or another illness. It is real, honest and brutally raw. There is comfort in knowing you are not alone, and no matter how picturesque someone’s life may look on the outside, we are all just trying to get by. It is our compassion and empathy for one another that can get us through, which this movie only reaffirms.