Selena Gomez has long been a champion for mental health issues — a topic that’s more important than ever as the coronavirus crisis keeps people isolated and afraid.
The Disney alum hosted a chat over the weekend with Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Surgeon General under the Obama administration, to discuss “chronic loneliness and the healing power of human connection.” The conversation, featured on the Rare Beauty Instagram page, also allowed Selena to open up about her own experience of the COVID-19 quarantine.
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She admitted:
“In the beginning I couldn’t deal with it that well. I kind of went into a bit of a depression. Then I started going into a place where I was writing and being active. It just forced me to have that time. I’ve been able to spend time with those people, those quality people, a lot more than I ever have. Spending a lot more time with my family and I almost feel like I’ve become normalized in this situation that’s not normal.”
Explaining the difficulties, she said:
“My job is a lot of travel, connecting with people, making people happy and that makes me happy, so it has been a struggle.”
After 7 months of the crisis, things have begun to turn around for the Ice Cream singer. She shared:
“Slowly, towards the end I’ve found the things that I’m doing were coming out and that was something that was extremely exciting for me. I’ve worked on personal things like a beauty line that has a goal of reaching $100 million in 10 years for mental health. And recently, I’ve been able to go to the studio. So I would say right now, I’m fully coming out again and I just think I had to handle it the way I needed to handle it, and got through it with the right people and doing the right things and doing the right steps to not make me go crazy. It took me years to work on myself for that.”
Good for you, Selly!
The duo also discussed methods of coping and self care, like drawing a line between staying informed on the news and letting it overwhelm you. Vivek also advised to be conscious of social media use as far as posting for validation or for genuine self expression.
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Selena, who revealed she hasn’t had any social media apps on her phone for two years, agreed, saying:
“I appreciate what you’ve said about it because I have been so anti-social media. Maybe too far, just because of course the intake of social media on my end was about my personal life and it was used to say these things. And I just felt like everyday, I woke up and I was like, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Like if I’m constantly doing things wrong or if they think I’m this sellout, fake, not real, not authentic, which is every part of my being, these words hurt, and they add nothing to my life. And the truth is they’re lies. So that is how I handled it by saying it, you know what? I’m going to step out of it because it’s not helping me at all.”
Hopefully Selena’s honesty can be helpful to others who are struggling through the ongoing pandemic. We certainly appreciate her, as always!
Ch-ch-check out the full chat (below):
#WeAreRare[Image via WENN/Avalon]
The post Selena Gomez Fell Into ‘A Bit Of A Depression’ During The Pandemic — Here’s What Helped! appeared first on Perez Hilton.