Selena Gomez’s previous relationship with Justin Bieber has been a major narrative in her career. Since their break-up, there has been much speculation and many rumors about how things between them ended up where they ended up. Gomez hasn’t often mentioned Bieber by name in public comments, but she did in a recent interview, during which she expressed her belief that she was a victim of emotional abuse during her relationship with Bieber.
In an NPR interview, she was asked about “Love You To Lose Me,” and Gomez said, “I’m very proud of it. It has a different meaning to me now from when I wrote it. I felt I didn’t get a respectful closure, and I had accepted that, but I know I needed some way to just say a few things that I wish I had said. It’s not a hateful song; it’s a song that is saying, ‘I had something beautiful and I would never deny that it wasn’t that.’ It was very difficult and I’m happy it’s over. And I felt like this was a great way to just say, you know, it’s done, and I understand that, and I respect that, and now here I am stepping into a whole other chapter.
The interviewer then noted their assumption that Gomez was talking about Bieber, to which Gomez responded, “You had to get the name in, I get it.”
She was then asked, “Do you look back on that time, and when you think about the parts of your life that were painful, that you’ve kind of moved on from, is that one of the harder parts?” She answered, “No, because I’ve found the strength in it. It’s dangerous to stay in a victim mentality. And I’m not being disrespectful, I do feel I was a victim to certain abuse.”
The interviewer stepped in, “You mean emotional abuse?” Gomez responded, “Yes, and I think that it’s something that — I had to find a way to understand it as an adult. And I had to understand the choices I was making. As much as I definitely don’t want to spend the rest of my life talking about this, I am really proud that I can say I feel the strongest I’ve ever felt and I’ve found a way to just walk through it with as much grace as possible.”
Find the full interview here.
