Selena Gomez revealed that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder during an Instagram stream with fellow singer and former Disney Channel star Miley Cyrus Friday (April 3). Appearing on Cyrus’ Instagram Live series Bright Minded, Gomez discussed the large donation she’d recently made to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center earlier this week and wound up recounting a visit to McClean psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts, where she learned more about the disorder and how it has affected her over the years.
Gomez is quoted in a Billboard article about the stream, saying, “Recently, I went to one of the best mental hospitals in… America, McClean Hospital, and I discussed that after years of going through a lot of different things, I realized that I was bipolar. And so when I got to know more information, it actually helps me. It doesn’t scare me once I know it.”
As she discussed the diagnosis, she also shared how she had to shake off lessons learned through her upbringing in order to process her realization. “I think people get scared of that,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Oh!’ And I’ve seen it, I’ve seen some of it even in my own family, where I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ I’m from Texas, it’s just not known to talk about mental health. You got to seem cool. And then I see anger built up in children and teenagers or whatever young adults because they are wanting that so badly. I just feel like when I finally said what I was going to say, I wanted to know everything about it. And it took the fear away.”
Gomez said she’d had anxiety and depression throughout her career but hadn’t connected it to a possible clinical disorder. She explained that now that she knows, she felt “equal parts terrified and relieved — terrified because the veil was lifted but relieved that I finally had the knowledge of why I had suffered with various depressions and anxieties for so many years. I never had full awareness or answers about this condition.”
You can watch the full episode of Bright Minded on Miley Cyrus’ Instagram.