Selena Gomez is opening up about not being able to carry children.
In her Vanity Fair cover story published Monday, the actress-singer reflected on how her medical issues have prevented her from being able to safely be pregnant.
“I haven’t ever said this, but I unfortunately can’t carry my own children. I have a lot of medical issues that would put my life and the baby’s in jeopardy. That was something I had to grieve for a while,” said the Only Murders in the Building star.
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Gomez was diagnosed with lupus in 2013 and later received a kidney transplant. She also publicly revealed that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, something she was open about in her Apple TV+ documentary My Mind and Me.
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2022, Gomez had previously reflected on her desire to become a parent. She recalled crying in the car after visiting a friend who was trying to get pregnant, given she was taking two medications for her bipolar disorder that would make it unlikely that she’d be able to carry her own children.
“That’s a very big, big present thing in my life. However I’m meant to have them, I will,” she said of having children at the time.
Despite her publicized health battles, the Emilia Pérez star explained that she is open to the alternatives she can seek to becoming a mother, including adoption and surrogacy.
“It’s not necessarily the way I envisioned it. I thought it would happen the way it happens for everyone,” she said of being a parent. “[But] I’m in a much better place with that. I find it a blessing that there are wonderful people willing to do surrogacy or adoption, which are both huge possibilities for me. It made me really thankful for the other outlets for people who are dying to be moms. I’m one of those people. I’m excited for what that journey will look like, but it’ll look a little different. At the end of the day, I don’t care. It’ll be mine. It’ll be my baby.”
Gomez has been candid about her interest in adopting before. In an interview with Time magazine published earlier this year, she shared that she decided she was going to adopt when she was 35, should she not meet any potential romantic partner. “I was alone for five years, and I got really used to it. A lot of people are afraid of being alone and I probably tortured myself in my head for like two years being alone, and then I kind of accepted it. Then I came up with my plan, which was I was going to adopt at 35 if I had not met anyone,” she said.
Gomez, who is 32, has publicly confirmed her romance last December with boyfriend Benny Blanco. “I’ve never been loved this way,” she told Vanity Fair of the music producer. “He’s just been a light. A complete light in my life. He’s my best friend. I love telling him everything.”
Should Gomez get married, she also revealed that she has no plans to change her last name: “I’m not changing my name no matter what. I am Selena Gomez. That’s it.”
