Selena Gomez‘s new documentary My Mind & Me is finally here to stream, and many fans are commending the star for bravely opening up about her mental health struggles with bipolar disorder, her lupus battle, body image issues, and grappling with overwhelming fame.
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Gomez’s Latest Mental Health Updates & Rolling Stone Profile
The Only Murders In The Building actress, 30, recently graced the cover of Rolling Stone for an intimate and heartrending interview in which she discussed the themes covered in the new doc, as well as recent updates on her mental health in the weeks leading up to My Mind & Me‘s release (it can now be streamed on Apple TV+ starting November 4, 2022).
In the interview, Gomez told the publication that she was initially nervous about her fans’ reactions just before the personal doc was set to premiere. The new film, which was initially supposed to just cover her on her Revival tour, ended up showing how Gomez recovered from her 2019 bipolar disorder diagnosis, a 2018 psychotic break, her 2017 kidney transplant due to her ongoing battle with lupus, romantic heartbreak, and other painful obstacles.
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“Because I have the platform I have, it’s kind of like I’m sacrificing myself a little bit for a greater purpose,” she said. “I don’t want that to sound dramatic, but I almost wasn’t going to put this out. God’s honest truth, a few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure I could do it.” Ultimately, Gomez wanted her fans to see the intimate look at her personal life in order to help them with similar experiences, especially those who also suffer from bipolar disorder. “I was like, ‘Okay, if I can just do that for one person, imagine what it could do.’ Eventually I just kind of went for it. I just said, ‘Yes.’”
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Gomez also revealed to the magazine that while she can now look back on her documentary with pride and gratitude, her message to fans is not that she is fully cured. (Healing, as she explains, is a long and at times grueling journey that doesn’t happen overnight). “I’m not fine and just back to happy life,” she told Rolling Stone. The Rare Beauty founder revealed that she worries that she won’t be able to carry children while on her current bipolar medications, and the magazine reported that she has done dialectical and cognitive behavioral therapy in an effort to “make bipolar my friend.”
Another message Gomez had to her devotees was that since her bipolar disorder won’t simply ever go away, she is currently focusing on a positive outlook and recalling how much she has grown as a person and performer. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the psychotic break, if it wasn’t for my lupus, if it wasn’t for my diagnosis,” she told the publication, “I’m depressed thinking about who I would be.”
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Other Takeaways from My Mind & Me:
Gomez confessed to hearing voices in 2018 during her Revival tour, but, as shown in her documentary, she was unaware of what was really happening at the time. Her assistant, Theresa, said that the “Lose You To Love Me” singer was “hearing all of these voices, and they just kept getting louder and louder and louder.” Gomez was was eventually taken to a treatment center for psychosis.
Gomez allegedly doesn’t remember much from this time, The Cut reports, but in the documentary, friends and loved ones said she was suffering from paranoia and was almost unrecognizable, and then ultimately diagnosed with bipolar disorder soon after. At the end of the documentary, Gomez said to fans that she still tries to remind herself to prioritize her own needs and self care. “When you’re struggling with your mental health, the essential part of it is knowing what to do and recognizing that,” she said, adding, “It’s something that I’m not ashamed of.”
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Wholesome Fan Reactions
In the weeks since Gomez’s first My Mind & Me trailer dropped (and now in the hours since finally seeing the doc), fans have flooded Gomez’s Instagram comment sections and created Twitter threads paying homage to her “strength,” as one fan wrote, her “resilience,” as another noted, and how much she “inspires” them, as someone else commented.
As one wrote under her recent IG post, “Your story has brought me to tears, I love you infinitely. I’ve been so deeply touched and overwhelmed by your raw feelings. It makes me feel so loved and cared for. It’s been a very tough year for me, and just watching your documentary makes me feel seen and not lonely. Thank you.”
planning on going to my first therapy after seing #MyMindAndMe and about to call @selenagomez to thank her for being the most inspiring and touching human being on earth pic.twitter.com/VLZ3VhMnng
— kate mess (@katemessdiary) November 4, 2022
Watched @selenagomez documentary and it was beautiful + inspiring. Such a nice surprise to see this in there. Honored pic.twitter.com/f4C7QhpEAA
— Juan Acosta (@JUANACOSTA__) November 4, 2022
Another shared a similar sentiment, tweeting and expressing gratitude, “As a bipolar person the @selenagomez documentary really hits home and is also so inspiring. I love that she is opening up about this. Bipolar has such a stigma around it and her documentary will help people see a different side of it.”
