Selena Gomez has been open about her bipolar diagnosis, but it was a long road to understanding what was truly going on with her mental health.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 14: Selena Gomez attends the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater on September 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
“I knew something was wrong, but I think I was misdiagnosed,” she said on the “Friends Keep Secrets” podcast. “I think people were just assuming, and I would try multiple therapists. And that’s why it’s hard. It’s actually really hard when we’re talking about these things and for me to go get a therapist, all of it is so f—– complicated.”
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 11: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (L-R) Benny Blanco and Selena Gomez attend the 83rd Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 11, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
The “Only Murders in the Building” star has since gotten the help she needed, even going to “four different rehabs” in her attempt to understand her brain. However, her husband, music producer Benny Blanco, said things aren’t perfect. “The crazy thing is like, even Selena will have like, [a] moment where like, she’s having mania and she doesn’t know,” he explained. “She’ll start to realize she’s having it after it’s happening, and sometimes she doesn’t even remember when it’s happening. And it’s such a delicate thing because you’re not supposed to technically talk to that person really about it while they’re deep in it.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 14: (L-R) Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco attend the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater on September 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Gomez agreed with her husband’s point, adding that sometimes, she can recognize when the mania has set in. She then clarified she’s not ashamed, saying, “I’m equally like, so proud to say that I do have moments of mania. I’m not like, ashamed at all because I can catch them a bit quicker. But it is helpful to have a partner that will understand where, maybe, the temperature is and meet you where you are, and then you kind of gradually understand what’s happening.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 15: Selena Gomez attends the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater on January 15, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
The “Call Me When You Break Up” singer feels free now that she’s open about her mental health struggles. “The whole hypocrisy of shaming people for therapy or people not understanding it is that it’s just not for you. So that’s completely fine, but for me, it finally allowed me to go, ‘Oh, that’s why I handled things the way I handled them. That’s why all the other people were able to get over things quickly and I wasn’t.’ And I would act out of fear, I would act out of love, I would act out of passion. It was all inconsistent, it was crazy,” she said.
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