Selena Gomez takes a break from social media after defending Taylor Swift when Hailey Bieber clip resurfaced

Selena Gomez has announced that she will be taking a break from social media after defending her “best friend” Taylor Swift after old footage of Hailey Bieber mocking her was discovered.

The 30-year-old with the most followers on Instagram took to TikTok Live on Thursday to reveal that she is taking a sabbatical from the internet after receiving backlash over her alleged dig at Justin Bieber’s 26-year-old wife.

She said that she will not apologize for who she is and is happy to be surrounded by the best of friends and fans before making her statement.

Selena said: ‘I’m going to take a second from social media because this is kind of silly and I’m 30. I’m too old for this.

‘But I love you very much and I will see you sooner rather than later. I’m going to have to take a break from everything.

After her Live, Selena deactivated her TikTok account. However, her Instagram account remains active.

The drama began early Thursday when a clip was discovered showing Hailey and Method Man, who used to co-host Drop The Mic, taking aim at Taylor’s songs.

Method Man mocked a “rap battle filled with the meanest lyrics about a celebrity since Taylor Swift’s last album”, prompting Hailey to pretend to make herself vomit.

A TikTok account posted the video and wrote: “This is REAL Hailey “Bieber”,” denouncing Hailey as a “bully” and a “mean girl.”

Adding fuel to the fire, Selena, 30, jumped into the comments on TikTok to write: “Sorry my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game.”

Taylor and Selena have been friends since 2008, when they were both teen stars dating two different Jonas Brothers.

In the intervening years, Selena had a long on-off romance with Justin Bieber, who married Hailey in 2018.

Although Selena’s fans have relentlessly trolled Hailey on social media, the two women have denied there was any bad blood between them.

They even went viral last October when they hugged for the cameras at the Academy Museum gala in Los Angeles.

In a later interview with VultureSelena called the snaps with Hailey “not a big deal,” adding, “It’s not even a thing.”

Hailey had previously indicated in the call his daddy podcast that his equation with Selena was “all respect,” and during the same interview he flatly denied that Justin had cheated on her with her.

Selena and Justin were teenage sweethearts but broke up for the last time in 2018, months before he court-married Hailey.

The month after Justin married Hailey, Selena reportedly suffered a lupus-related collapse and entered mental health treatment.

One day after news of Selena’s alleged nervous breakdown broke, Justin was seen looking distraught as he sat in his car next to Hailey.

Hailey has received criticism from die-hard Selena fans throughout her relationship with Justin, whom she has been married to for over four years.

When Justin and Hailey attended the American-themed Met Gala together in September 2021, viewers chanted “Selena!” them.

Hailey’s cousin Ireland claimed the couple was unfazed by the teasing of Selena fans, writing on social media: “They are one of the happiest and most in love couples I’ve ever had the chance to be with.” They don’t care about them.

In 2020, Justin shared a social media post from a Selena fan that encouraged others to flood Hailey’s live stream with comments that “Jelena was better.”

“It’s extremely difficult to choose the right path when I see people like this trying to rally people to bully the person I love the most in this world,” Justin wrote.

Hailey became so exasperated that this April she posted a TikTok begging trolls who are “in my comments every time I post” to “please leave me alone.”

Possibly referring to how long it’s been since Justin and Selena broke up, she added: “It’s been long enough to leave me alone.” I beg you, really.

Meanwhile, a TikTok user named @essymakingsounds made Selena ‘cry’ on Wednesday with a sweet post saying: ‘Does anyone really feel bad for Selena Gomez? Can you imagine going through such a public breakup with a guy you had a crush on for seven years and then like two months later she marries someone?

‘And then you have a chronic disease or an autoimmune disease, I can’t imagine it being fun. Living with it and shoots in the public eye while people watch you. And then dealing with mental health when life is hard enough.

“Kudos to her for being so brave, so public, and so open about her journey. But I bet if we ever walked in her shoes one day, where everything is so publicized, it would be very difficult. So every time I think of a hard day, I think of Selena Gomez. I feel bad for saying that, but if she can do it, everyone can do it.

The message was certainly received as Selena responded in the comments: ‘That comment brought me to tears. Thank you!’