Selena Gomez Opens Up About Mental Health and Alone Time

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Selena Gomez Columbia Pictures And Sony Pictures Animation's World Premiere Of "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" - Arrivals
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Selena Gomez has done her first big interview of the year, appearing on Coachโ€™s first episode of its new Dream It Real podcast.

She spoke about being true to herself, going to therapy, why she doesnโ€™t want to be called pretty, and when her fans can expect her new album.

Here are some highlights from the interview.

On understanding her heart:

โ€œI donโ€™t really think that people know my heart,โ€ Gomez says. โ€œI think that sometimes people may think that I politically say the right thing or Iโ€™m safe or Iโ€™ve been trained to speak this way. I donโ€™t know how to be trained, like how on earth would somebody be training me to speak things?โ€

Selena Gomez
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โ€œI think that a lot of people donโ€™t understand my heart, you know?โ€ Gomez continues. โ€œAnd I also donโ€™t like that, it can be sometimes about appearance too. I donโ€™t really appreciate people judging me on my looks, or anything like that.โ€

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When asked what she means by that, Gomez explains, โ€œI just think that the world today, with so much exposure to everythingโ€ฆitโ€™s great to dress up and to feel beautiful and to do those things, butโ€ฆand Iโ€™m flattered when, maybe, guys are like, โ€˜Youโ€™re pretty.โ€™ I am, itโ€™s just notโ€ฆI would just love someone to love me for the person that I am.โ€

On when we can expect a new album:

โ€œWorking on this new record, I just wanted it to be me, all me (so no collaborations). Every song is a story Iโ€™ve experienced. To that point, I think thereโ€™s no one whoโ€™s going to tell my story better than myself. I just really wanted to kind of just live with my story a bit and create it into something that means a lot to me.โ€

On how fans can learn from her experiences:

โ€œYouโ€™re enough. Youโ€™re absolutely enough. And if you deal with things that are really difficult like family issues, or anxiety, depression or substance issues, I just think that youโ€™re never too far gone. I really believe that. I think every person is valuable and important and we are all equal and not to, I always feel like I get cheesy, but itโ€™s genuinely from my heart.โ€

โ€œI care about the world and the only message that I would say is that youโ€™re enough. That you are valued and even if you feel absolutely alone, that there are millions of people that feel that way, and I want to encourage them to get to know who they are and itโ€™s really hard. Itโ€™s really, really hard.โ€

Selena Gomez Coach Hosts Meet + Greet with Selena Gomez at The Grove
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โ€œI donโ€™t want people to think itโ€™s labeled on and itโ€™s gone. I spent years of my life trying to navigate who I am and overcome so many obstacles. So I donโ€™t think itโ€™s easy. I believe in people and Iโ€™ve seen amazing people go through the hardest things, and it inspires me.โ€

On how Instagram can be unhealthy:

โ€œIt is not that healthy to be on it all the time because I noticed with me, I got kind of depressed looking at these people who look beautiful and amazing, and it would just get me down a lot so I just think taking breaks is really important.โ€

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โ€œBut just know that most of it isnโ€™t real. And I hate to say that, I donโ€™t mean to be rude, but itโ€™s very unrealistic in a lot of ways, and I think that for me, I want to protect the youngest generation because they are exposed to so much information, and I feel like that causes a lot of anxiety at the youngest age.โ€

Selena Gomez
Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP / Getty Images

โ€œLike, I didnโ€™t grow up with that. I had dial-up internet. I think that sometimes people are exposed to too much, and you should really protect what youโ€™re seeing and be mindful, be really mindful of how it makes you feel.โ€

Check out the Dream It Real podcast here.