Before becoming a famous star, Selena Gomez was once a poor girl who did not even have a happy home.
Looking at the luxurious and luxurious lives of stars , perhaps any of us admire and dream. But to achieve the success like today, besides the luck of having more talent than others, they also had to trade hard work, sweat and tears. Among them are even many people who have risen from poverty, like Selena Gomez. She did not have the happiness of being born into a conditional family , having star parents with many relationships in showbiz. Even having a happy home was a luxury for Selena. Overcoming many hardships and challenges, she had to rise up on her own and work hard to get the fame she is now.
Poor childhood, broken family
On July 22, 1992, husband and wife Ricardo Gomez and Mandy Cornett welcomed their daughter Selena Gomez in Grand Prairie, Texas, USA. They named their baby after the late singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Her father is of Mexican descent and her mother has Italian ancestry, so Selena inherited her dark eyes, hair, and healthy hybrid beauty.
Selena Gomez with her biological parents when she was young
When Selena Gomez was born, her mother was only 16 years old, and her father was just a high school student. Selena’s grandparents often had to take care of her grandchildren so that her parents could complete their studies. Their family at that time was struggling to cope with many financial difficulties. When Selena was 5 years old, her parents divorced. Mrs. Mandy then had to raise her daughter alone with a meager income.
Selena said: “I remember my mother’s car very often ran out of gas. We had to rummage through the car, collecting every change to have money for gas. Because my mother never wanted to have to ask for money from him. grandmother”.
Mrs. Mandy said that their mother and daughter only had enough money to buy pasta at dollar stores to make dinner. But if Selena wants to go to a concert, her mother still tries to save money to help her wish come true.
Selena said emotionally: “My mother never told me like that, it was such a big deal. When she was with me, she always acted strong. She had a big responsibility on her shoulders when she gave birth to me at the age of 16. My mother gave up everything for me, she worked 3 jobs at the same time, raised me, sacrificed her whole life for me.”
Experiencing such dark days, Selena couldn’t help but worry that there would be no bright future for the two of them at that time: “I am heartbroken when my parents are no longer together, my mother has to working hard to give me a better life and I can’t see the light at the end of this dark tunnel. I’m afraid I won’t get any better if I stay in Texas.”
A mother’s passion is passed on to her child
Selena Gomez’s passion for acting began when she watched her mother rehearse on stage. Mrs. Mandy said: “She was only 6 or 7 years old then. She came to see a rehearsal with me, she just sat there watching, didn’t move. On the way home, she didn’t say a word. something, and then suddenly said, “Mom, I think it would be funnier if you acted like this.” I realized, oh no, my baby is going to be an actress. At one time, she even cast The kids in the neighborhood become actors and practice as directors.”
Since then, Selena Gomez has been actively participating in auditions to recruit actors. In 2002, at the age of 10, she was cast as a little girl named Gianna on the TV show Barney and Friends. Also here, Selena met her best friend Demi Lovato for the first time.
Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato on the show “Barney and Friends”
Selena Gomez recalled: “When I was a kid, I was very shy. I didn’t understand the slang words used in filming. I learned everything from Barney.”
During the time participating in “Barney and friends”, the child actress was also actively looking for other opportunities. She participated in the films “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over”, “Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire”, although only playing a small cameo role on the screen.
Life changing dreams come true
In 2007, with a lot of experience accumulated, Selena Gomez tried Disney and was assigned a small role – singer Mikayla in the hit movie “Hannah Montana”. Compared to the main star Miley Cyrus, Selena was just an unknown actress at that time.
Selena Gomez trong “Wizards of Waverly Place”
But then after many efforts, Selena achieved her first big success when Disney gave her the lead role in the new project “Wizards of Waverly Place”, a TV series about the life of a wizarding family . Upon receiving the news, Selena and her mother quickly packed up to live in Hollywood so that she could easily pursue an acting career.
Thanks to her beautiful appearance and lovely acting, “the witch” Selena Gomez quickly won the hearts of young viewers watching Disney Channel. The success of the film is also when Selena from a poor girl, officially became a new star of Hollywood. The salary she received for each episode was up to 30,000 USD. Selena’s fortune at that time, ie when she was 15 years old, was estimated at more than $ 2.7 million. No more difficult days, eating cheap pasta with her mother, Selena’s life seems to have turned to a new page from here.
Not stopping, Selena continued to be assigned to lead roles in other teen films such as “Another Cinderella Story”, “Princess Protection Program”, “Monte Carlo”,… Thanks to that, she became an international star . Warmly loved by young people, the name is famous all over the world.
In addition to movies, Selena also broke into music with some exciting music for teenage audiences. Including the song “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” – the soundtrack to “Another Cinderella Story”, the film about the journey to achieve the dream of a modern Cinderella – in that song, Selena as well as sings about her own efforts: “Everybody says it’s hard to get what I want. They say I’m wrong, I shouldn’t believe in dreams. I hear them say that every day, every time . they make me listen too, but they’ll never make me change my mind, no!”.
Tough challenges
Of course, no road to success is strewn with roses. When Selena Gomez released her first music album, she received all kinds of criticism, for her voice was too bad, which was too much abuse of Auto-tune technology. Selena’s music products have only reached “small” positions on the charts.
Selena Gomez in “Getaway”
As for the film industry, since leaving Disney, the young actress’s career has also begun to decline. For example, her movie “Getaway” was a total failure at the box office, even bringing Selena a nomination for the Golden Raspberry Award, the category of Worst Actress.
As if preparing to “sink” like many other Disney stars – Vanessa Hudgens or Ashley Tisdale, in 2011, Selena started dating Justin Bieber and the young couple’s love became a hot topic in all newspapers. throughout many years. Today is still a couple, tomorrow they will break up , just the news of their dissolving relationship is enough to make Selena’s name appear in the media every day. But the flip side of this love story also arose from that, she was caught up in the scandal of “clinging” to her boyfriend, allegedly “using” Justin to become famous. Even when we broke up, Selena also did not escape the shadow of Justin. Too tired of the market, she had to speak up: “Honestly, what I want the press to print is that I’m too tired to talk about my relationship with him.”
Coupled with Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez is more famous, but also has many markets
Not enough headaches about the love story with Justin, in 2013, Selena also discovered that she had the autoimmune disease Lupus, causing a side effect of depression and anxiety. The illness made it more difficult for Selena’s career, causing her to cancel her Stars Dance tour, to go to Dawn at The Meadows for treatment. Because this center also specializes in treating teenagers with addiction, rumors have surfaced that Selena is abusing stimulants. These bad rumors had to make her representative confirm that Selena came here for treatment.
After months of receiving harsh words, Selena openly confessed: “I was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Lupus, and I went through chemotherapy. That’s what I do in my life. I just took a break, because if I didn’t get treatment, I could have had a stroke. I really want to tell everyone, “You don’t know anything. I had to go to chemotherapy. You guys are assholes.” I was so angry I wanted to say it. I locked myself in for a while until I felt confident and comfortable again.”
Malicious rumors, prying eyes about private life, about love affairs are the flip side of being a celebrity. Selena’s depression isn’t just due to Lupus, it’s also exacerbated by those downsides. She struggled to overcome that terrible mental illness: “The noises in my head always drove me crazy. It made me depressed, made me not want to leave the house, talk to other people. and trust them. I don’t want to live a life like that.”
Returning after the treatment period, Selena Gomez’s film and music projects in the following years continued to become “bombs”. If she was a weak person, she would have collapsed and given up. But because of her burning passion for art, by 2015, Selena has had innovation and progress in style and music. She made a lot of impressions with the single “Good For You”. This song became Selena’s first single to enter the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking her new success.
After many failures, Selena Gomez finally achieved new success
The singles that followed Selena also showed signs of improvement on the charts. After a difficult time, she seemed to want to prove to her fans that she really came back, especially naming the album “Revival”. Selena proudly said: “Great music is like this, it’s when you share your own story. I don’t care about people bending my words anymore. People have said all kinds of things. they can talk about me. I can’t let that stop me from making music that I’m passionate about, including melodies that are very personal about my life . ”
Meanwhile in the field of cinema, the animated film “Hotel Transylvania 2” that Selena participated in voiced also achieved much success at the box office and was praised by critics.
Not sleeping in victory, Selena is aware that she is often criticized for having a weak voice, so she has constantly improved her vocal ability. And as a result, Selena’s voice in live performances is getting better and better than before, making the audience acknowledge her efforts.
Selena Gomez shows off her improved voice in live shows
After the hits “Same Old Love”, “Hands to Myself”, Selena Gomez kicked off her new Revival tour, and also had a new hit with Charlie Puth – “We Don’t Talk Anymore”. The thought that the girl was completely strong, was able to stand. But then last September, Lupus disease and depression once again caused Selena to cancel the tour to go to the treatment center. This news shocked fans. Even for many months, Selena did not update social networks, no longer appeared in front of the media.
Selena Gomez in the second treatment center
Only later, when she returned to showbiz, she revealed that her loneliness , emptiness and insecurity every time she had to perform in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators caused her depression to relapse: “I feel like lonely while on tour I feel depressed, anxious I experience panic attacks before going on stage, or after leaving stage, I basically feel like I’m not complete enough, I can’t afford it. I feel like I’m not giving the fans anything.”
Depression – it sounds simple, but it is a disease that has tormented so many stars in the arts. Because when they are celebrities, they always have to endure detractors about their appearance, false rumors about their private lives, and pressure from public opinion to maintain a perfect and exemplary image for young people. Over time, those pressures weighed on their psyche , causing weak artists to fall. Some people find a way to eat more to ease this psychological illness , such as the case of actor Wentworth Miller. Worse, there are people who abuse drugs and alcohol to forget it, and then end up destroying their own careers and falling into a dead end like Lindsay Lohan or Macaulay Culkin.
But when Selena realized that she had a psychological problem, she was well aware that what she needed to do was to seek the support of doctors and professional treatment centers: “I had to stop everything, Because even though I had everything, inside I still felt like I was broken. And I had to try to keep my composure on the outside so I wouldn’t let you guys down. But the more I tried to hold back. , the more I drag myself down… If you feel the same way as I do, don’t let it drag on.”
After a period of “hiding” for treatment, the young girl reappeared splendidly at the American Music Awards and honored to bring home an award. At work, she also continues to be active non-stop. No longer standing in front of the camera, but now Selena became a film producer and had great success with the series “13 Reasons Why”. Her and Kygo’s song “It Ain’t Me” also reached the Top 10 on the charts in the US and many other countries. All thanks to Selena’s relentless efforts in her artistic career!
Selena Gomez once said: “If I let all the negative things affect me, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.” After each fall, the young star seemed to reappear more brilliantly. She is a living proof of the saying “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Despite the rumors “Selena is so incompetent”, “Selena sings too badly”, “Selena only knows how to live off her boyfriend”, she still works hard every day to improve her performance skills. And even depression – “the number one enemy” of the artist world – can’t beat Selena like many starsother. Selena’s talent may not be comparable to some of her colleagues, but her strength, hard-working attitude, and her efforts on the journey to achieve what she dreams of is probably enough to make her. many people to admire!
