The top 20 facts about Hollywood's sweetheart, Selena Gomez.
She Got Her Inspiration From Her Mother
Selena was born in Grand Prairie, Texas on July 22nd, 1992.
Her mother, Mandy Teefey, was just 16 years old when she gave birth to Selena. Growing up, Selena went to her mother’s rehearsals for theatre and discovered her love for the stage.
Selena also gave credit to her mother for her success.
“When I started working, my mom was the person in my life that helped guide me through most of that. We kind of grew up together. Everything that I am has become a little bit of what my mom’s gone through.”
She’s Named After Selena Quintanilla
Her parents named her Selena, after the famous singer Selena Quintanilla Perez.
She actually grew up listening to her music a lot, as a kid.
Her Parents Are Both Divorced And Re-Married
In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Selena opened up about her parents ending their marriage.
At around the age of 4-5 years old, Selena’s parents got a divorce. Selena kept a relationship with her father but lived with her mother.
She Started Out On Barney
When she was 7 years old, Selena started her acting career on the kid’s TV show ‘Barney’, meeting Demi Lovato in line for auditions.
However, after two years on Barney, Selena was dropped from the show, as she was getting too old for the role.
Her Audition With Disney
At 11 years old, Selena started her career with Disney.
She actually admitted in her audition, that she and her friends used to use glowsticks to draw the mickey mouse ears that all of the Disney Channel stars do.
Little did she know, she would be drawing the ears, years down the road.
Her First Kiss Was With A Disney Channel Star
Selena had her first kiss was with Dylan Sprouse, who played Zack on ‘The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.’
Selena later admitted that it was an awkward first kiss because she “closed her eyes a little too early.”
She Landed A Leading Role For Disney On The Third Attempt
Selena had previously been a role in 2 different spin-off shows for Disney, but neither one got picked up.
Finally, in 2007, Selena landed her first starring role as Alex Russo on Disney Channel’s ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’.
The series ran for 4 seasons and ended in early 2012.
She Turned Down A Role In ‘High School Musical 3’
Selena was offered a role in Disney’s ‘High School Musical 3’, but she declined it.
The role was to be Sharpay’s mean assistant, Tiara Gold.
In an interview with New York Daily News, Selena explained as to why she turned it down, saying: “‘High School Musical 3’ is cute, and I think it would be a great opportunity for someone else. I passed on it because I didn’t want to do it. I plan to take other roles in acting that are challenging for me. After Disney, I want to be taken seriously as an actress for many years.”
She Dated Nick Jonas
Selena began dating, singer, Nick Jonas, in 2008.
The couple started dating just after Nick Jonas and Miley Cyrus had broken up, which caused some tension between the two girls. However, Selena and Nick’s relationship only lasted about a year long.
Selena likes to think of her relationship with Nick as “puppy love” since they were relatively young, at the time.
She’s A UNICEF Ambassador
When Selena was just 17 years old, she became an ambassador for UNICEF. UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) works to improve the lives of children in over 190 countries.
She has traveled to Ghana, Chile, and Nepal for field missions.
She Released Her Own Clothing Line
In 2010, Selena launched her first ever clothing line, called Dream Out Loud.
The clothes and accessories appeared in K-Marts all across the U.S.
Her First Concert And Record Bought Was Britney Spears
The first record Selena ever bought was Britney Spears ‘Baby One More Time.
Britney also happened to be the first concert Selena attended.
She Swears By Drinking A Little Olive Oil
It might sound strange, but Selena Gomez is a big advocate for olive oil.
In order for her to protect her vocal chords, she drinks straight up olive oil!
“It tastes terrible…but it coats your throat.”
She Dated Justin Bieber On And Off For Years
Alright, so you may have known about this one.
But the young Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber, in 2011, confirmed their relationship with Selena at 18 years old and Justin at 16 years old.
They debuted as an official couple at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in February 2011.
However, in 2013, Selena and Justin broke up but had an on-again-off-again relationship.
In 2015, Justin revealed that the main reason why the two split, was due to identity issues. “My identity was in her. Her identity was in me. When stuff would happen, I would lose my freakin’ mind, and she would lose her mind, and we would fight so hard because we were so invested in each other.”
She Has Two Little Sisters
Selena went from only child to older sister.
In 2013, Selena’s mother and step-dad had a baby girl, named Gracie. Selena was an only child for 21 years and was ecstatic to be a big sister to Gracie.
In 2014, her dad and step-mom had a baby girl, named Tori.
She Absolutely Loves Pickles
Selena is obsessed with pickles!
Back in 2015, Selena told Mirror UK about her love for pickle everything.
“I go to the movies and have popcorn and pickles. I may bring out a pickle cook book.”
Her Work On ’13 Reasons Why’
Selena Gomez was the executive producer for the Netflix series, ’13 Reasons Why’.
She’s expressed that what started as a passion project turned into a hit tv series, 7 years in the making.
The series did get renewed for a season 2.
She’s Got A Collection Of Tattoos
Selena is tatted up! Well…she has 9 small tattoos…
The most visible ones include: a music note on right side of her wrist, the lowercase letter “g” behind her ear (for baby sister Gracie), the word “Sunshine” on her right foot (for her grandmother), Arabic writing on her back that translates to ‘Love yourself, first’, “God Who Strengthens Me” on her right hip, Roman Numeral LXXVI of 76 on the back of her neck (her mother was born in 1976), an Om symbol on her left hip.
Most recently, Selena and cast members got a semicolon on their wrists (for ’13 Reason Why’).
The 9th tattoo is a ‘secret’ and has never been seen.
She’s Keeping Her Relationship Out Of Her Music
Selena started dating The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) at the beginning of 2017.
In an interview with The Zach Sang Show, she mentioned how she’s keeping her relationship private, especially when it comes to influencing her music.
“As much as that has been inspiring, I’m a big advocate for making sure that I’m doing it for me.”
Her Best Friend Donated A Kidney To Her
In 2012, Selena was diagnosed with Lupus, which is an autoimmune disease.
In September of 2017, Selena had to get a kidney transplant, caused by lupus. Selena’s friend and actress, Francia Raisa, donated one of her kidneys to Selena.