Selena Gomez dishes on her relationship with boyfriend Benny Blanco and not being seen as a ‘victim’

Selena Gomez shared a rare insight into her personal life as she opened up about everything from her relationship with Benny Blanco to mental health in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Despite growing up in the spotlight after starting on Barney & Friends at age 10, three years before she was cast in Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place, the 32-year-old actress insisted she still manages to feel that she ‘has a private life’. .’

‘I got my places to go, and nobody bothers me, like, [my half sister] Gracie’s football games. No one really bothers me unless I’m doing the whole task,” she explained.

When asked about navigating tabloids and paparazzi for so long, the Grammy nominee noted that she “hangs out with people who aren’t in the business that much.”

She also joked that she has become adept at hiding, or trying to go incognito, on date nights by hiding her face behind a scarf to avoid being photographed.

Unlike in the past, however, Gomez acknowledged that she feels more comfortable posting photos and videos with Blanco, 36, whom she started dating last year.

‘This is the safest I’ve ever felt [a relationship]and I see a future with this person,” she said. “And if you throw a little bit in there, people aren’t so hungry to hunt you anymore.”

Still, she reminded fans that “there’s so much” about her relationship that “people don’t see,” which is just for her and Blanco.

Gomez also got vulnerable when she told THR that switching from singing to acting has given her “sanity.”

“It’s really scary to talk about music that maybe was part of your story and now isn’t,” she explained. “And it’s really hard to sit there and talk about myself. It’s deflating.’

This is in stark contrast to her press tour for her new film, Emilia Pérez, in which the star claims she was not once asked a “personal question.”

“Every interview I’ve done for this film, there hasn’t been one personal question asked, and I wanted to kiss every reporter on the mouth and just say, ‘Thank you, because it was so refreshing,’ and I think that’s a space that is safer for me,” Gomez said.

The Who Says hitmaker has also credited her role as a big sister with making it easier to be happy for herself.

“I knew I had to be much stronger than succumb to people’s chatter,” she said. ‘I’ve always tried to be strong with her and vulnerable with her. I really want to make a better world for her.’

When asked if her younger sibling, 11, is aware of her fame and success, Gomez said they “don’t really bother” when they’re bowling or traveling to Target together.

“If we do that, she’ll get used to it. It brings me joy when she says, ‘I don’t really want to do what you’re doing,'” Gomez added.

If Gracie ultimately wants to follow in her footsteps, Gomez says she will “support whatever her dreams are.”

“I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be in the entertainment industry, and I’m so grateful that she didn’t feel like I was living a sparkling life, so she wants that life,” the singer reflected.

Gomez also emphasized that she doesn’t “grumble” at the idea of ​​missing out on being a child.

‘When I was younger, [acting made me] the feeling that I belonged. “I was made fun of at school for being on Barney – I was way too old for Barney – but I enjoyed doing it so much, and again, I enjoyed belonging,” she said.

Even now, 20 years later, Gomez says she loves what she does.

“I love where I am in every aspect of my life, and I’m very proud of how far I’ve come. I feel healthy. I feel happy. I feel at peace,” the artist said.

Amid much Oscar buzz for her latest film, the actress confessed that she was “very confused.”

“Music will always be in my soul, but I was never really able to spend enough time in the field I originally wanted to work in,” she said of acting. “I’ve been very strategic and have done my very best to choose projects that will be attractive and not necessarily what people would suggest to me.”

She continued, “That’s something that gets me high. But it was funny with Emilia, I really thought it would be a film released in France.”

She was especially surprised by all the praise, as she admitted that sometimes she is rejected before she even gets a chance to audition for a role.

“Well, if they think I’m too young for a role, or whatever the case may be, we use a tactic where we don’t tell them it’s me auditioning so they just have to accept that I’m auditioning,” she revealed.

Gomez added, “Sometimes even just hearing that I want to audition, they’re like, ‘No, that doesn’t match what we do.’ Or it’s, “We’re going to hire people that no one knows,” and then they hire Austin Butler, and I’m like, “Cool.” But I’m not angry, it’s the position I have and it’s okay. It just means I keep doing things that are hopefully attractive and different.”

Although she doesn’t work under a different name, she has sent out cassette tapes where “they don’t know it’s her,” or where her managers will say they “have a client who wants to read them.”

“It worked in one of the films I did because they looked at me when I walked in and I thought I lost it straight away because they were like, ‘Ooohh.’ I was like, ‘No, no, no, no. Let me read.” It was Fundamentals of Caring, a cute video [with Paul Rudd]. And it worked, I get it. You should actually do the dance,” she mused.

Even after Emilia Pérez, Gomez faces skeptical casting directors, saying she isn’t constantly “being offered movie parts” as many think.

In the future, she dreams of working with Aaron Sorkin and Martin Scorsese.

‘I really want to know for sure [Scorsese] does not suddenly stop or retire. One more, I’m in two scenes. That’s something else I take into account. I never have to be the star,” she noted. ‘That certainly scares me, because it feels like the responsibility lies mainly with me. I’m still learning. I just know that I’m going for things that aren’t necessarily conventional.’