What's going on with Selena Gomez?
It's Gossip Time!
Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: a pop star incites a TikTok stan war, a model halfheartedly defends herself, and Hilary Duff lands a cool new sponsor.
It has been a difficult week for those of us in our thirties who are just now learning how to use TikTok. Everything is happening to Selena Gomez over there, and you have to watch it all so quickly before it gets deleted. Somehow this started with over-laminated eyebrows? Let’s get into it.
After a period of relative calm between Gomez and her lifelong nemesis Hailey Bieber, things really ratcheted back up in the last two weeks for no apparent reason. Several other models and Kardashians and Kardashian-adjacent personalities became involved. Who are these people?
THE PLAYERS
Selena Gomez: Pop star, actress, 30 years old. Dated Justin Bieber from 2011-2012, 2013-2015, and 2017-2018. Dated The Weeknd for several months in 2017.
Hailey Bieber: Model, theoretical nepo baby, 26 years old. Dated Justin from 2015-2016. Became engaged to Justin after reuniting with him for a few weeks in 2018. Married him later that year and then married him again in a bigger ceremony in 2019.
Kylie Jenner: Lipkit entrepreneur, possible billionaire, 25 years old. Friends with Hailey.
Kendall Jenner: Model, chef, 27 years old. Also friends with Hailey.
Bella Hadid: Model, keeper of messy cars, 26 years old. Dated The Weeknd from 2015-2017 and 2018-2019. Friends with Hailey and the Jenners.
Jordyn Woods: Model, former reality TV star, 25 years old. Was best friends with Kylie until she allegedly hooked up with Kylie’s sister Khloe Kardashian’s boyfriend Tristan Thompson in 2019.
Taylor Swift: Pop star, celebrated short film director, 33 years old. Selena’s ONLY FRIEND in this industry.
THE DRAMA
As you can guess from the timelines presented above, Selena and Hailey don’t like each other because Justin kept them on a steady rotation for about a decade. And Selena and Bella don’t like each other because Selena dated The Weeknd when she was on a break from Justin and he was on a break from Bella. But everything seemed okay as of last fall: Hailey told Alex Cooper on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that she bore no ill will toward Selena and that there was never any overlap in their respective relationships with Justin (okay). Shortly after that, Selena and Hailey posed for a photo together at the Met Gala. But nothing gold can stay.
In the last couple of weeks, Selena has seemed a bit… off… and has been posting more frequently on TikTok. In January, she commented on a fan’s video speculating that Hailey and Kendall were “shading” her in another now-deleted TikTok. “It’s ok!” Selena wrote. “I don’t let these things get me down! Be nice to everyone! x.” (Hailey herself commented that the original TikTok was not directed at Selena. “I never comment on this type of thing but we were just having a girls night and did a random tik tok sound for fun. It’s not directed at anyone ✨🤍,” she wrote.)
Then, a few weeks later, Selena posted a video in which she expressed a desire to look like Bella. “I wish I was as pretty as Bella Hadid,” she said calling her her “#girlcrush.” Then she said that she did not feel as pretty as Bella because “I accidentally laminated my brows too much.”
Fans found these sentiments strange, and Selena has since deleted the video. But shortly thereafter, Kylie — friend to Hailey and Bella — posted a photo of her own eyebrows on her Instagram story with the caption “this was an accident????” Then she posted another photo of her FaceTiming Hailey in which both women could be seen showing off their eyebrows.
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Rabid Selena fans took Kylie’s posts as a threat to Selena’s life, basically, and as a result, they spammed Kylie and Hailey’s comments. Kylie was forced to comment on a fan’s TikTok video outlining the alleged drama. “this is reaching,” she wrote. “no shade towards selena ever and i didn’t see her eyebrow posts! u guys are making something out of nothing. this is silly.” Selena concurred. “Agreed @kyliejenner,” she wrote. “It’s all unnecessary. I’m a fan of Kylie!”
But then Selena kept posting. Fans surfaced a years-old video of Hailey lightly dissing Taylor’s music, and Selena commented, “So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game.”
Later that day, she popped up on TikTok Live to announce she was taking a break from social media. “I have the best friends and the best fans in the whole world,” she said.
Hailey, Bella, the Jenners, and Taylor have not commented. But Kylie’s ex-BFF Jordyn recently posted a video promoting Selena’s Rare Beauty brand, suggesting she has taken Selena’s side in this ever-evolving feud.
And Selena has continued posting on Instagram. Yesterday, she shared photos of her fishing with her family, telling fans she is a “blessed lady.” In the meantime, Selena’s fans have posted several videos of Justin being rude to Hailey across multiple social media platforms, including one in which it looks like he slams a car door in her face.
So that’s what’s happening. My best to everyone.
STUFF BY HILARY DUFF: Hilary Duff loves Planet Oat Milk and Girl Scout Cookies #ad.
Finally, I’ll leave you with this photo of a pile of dark chocolate that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen provided attendees at their Paris fashion show this week:
At least they’re still nice.
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I kind of love that Jordyn got involved via makeup tutorial. I believe all future commentary on celebrity feuds should be routed through product recommendations of various lines
solid gold entry this week. between kylie’s face in that vid, the eyebrows gone rogue, the pile of chocolate...glorious