Selena Gomez, the pop singer and one-time girlfriend of Justin Bieber, revealed this week that she has lupus, the chronic autoimmune disease.
"I was diagnosed with lupus, and I’ve been through chemotherapy,"
she told Billboard in an interview published Wednesday.
Gomez, 23, explained that it was the disease that forced her to cancel a tour of Asia and Australia in 2013. At the time, however, it was reported that she had checked into the Dawn at the Meadows rehab facility for substance abuse problems. Her representatives denied the claims, but did not offer an explanation.
"That’s what my break was really about. I could’ve had a stroke," Gomez said. "I wanted so badly to say, 'You guys have no idea. I’m in chemotherapy. You’re a******s.' I locked myself away until I was confident and comfortable again."
Elsewhere in the interview, Gomez explained that she has now channeled much of her frustrations into making a new album, "Revival."
"I'm so f***ing nice to everybody, and everyone is so vile to me. I’ve been working since I was 7. I’ve been a UNICEF ambassador since I was 17. It’s so disappointing that I’ve become a tabloid story," she explained. "The hate motivated me."
The pop starlet also expressed frustration with Internet trolls who criticized her bikini photos earlier this year.
"I was in a bikini and got publicly ripped for being overweight," said Gomez. "That was the first time I’d experienced body shaming like that. I believed some of the words they were saying."
Despite all the negativity that can accompany the limelight, Gomez said that her friend and fellow musician Taylor Swift has been helping her through.
"Taylor makes me feel empowered, like I can trust new people," she said. "All of those girls are so dope. We ran around taking pictures, changing dresses, dancing — super-cliché girly stuff, but it rocked. The way she cares about women is so adamant. It’s pulling me out of my shell."
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