Throughout the beginning of her career (which happened to be during a very defining time in her life), Selena Gomez was praised by Disney big shots for her talent and transparency that fans fell in love with.
Wizards of Waverly Place, as well as a lot of her straight-to-DVD Disney films, gave the Disney Channel some of their most well-received pieces of work at the time. Which isn't saying much, but what did she know at 14/15 years old?
She was praised for her impressive comedic timing on a multi-camera set, her good work ethic, and having a charm that clicked into what parents trusted and what kids wanted to see.![]()
But when it was time for her to grow up, none of that applied anymore. The things that made her great at Disney were suddenly irrelevant as an adult star, and she saw a rapid shift.
In the past, you could hit play on any interview that featured this new star and hear her talk about "what really matters". Translation: the work she did for UNICEF, women being praised in the industry, being surrounded by people who keep her grounded, and the goals she had in film and music that didn't involve Disney.
She stressed these things even more so once she began dating Justin Bieber, who exposed her to a new audience. One that didn't love her. And one that didn't focus on her acting or her talent or who she was as a good worker or whatever else Disney praised her for.
She told E! back in 2013 about her first paparazzi experience and how they affect her now: "I went to the beach with my family and - I'm a 15 year old in a bikini - and there were, like, seven guys. And then it just ruined my day. [...] It gives me anxiety. Yes [I noticed it get worse when Justin and I got together]. I'm sure you can actually see those pictures of me being way stressed out about it."
And the saddest quote of all, that she has said and tweaked throughout the years (but this one is taken from 2011):
"I don't want to be known for what I'm wearing and who I'm dating."Sadly...................
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this is exactly
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what keeps her famous
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Let's go back to the beginning for a quick sec.
Selena had her first acting gig with Barney. Her mother Mandy (who had Selena at 16 years old) recalls the audition, "she starts critiquing everybody and their performance, and then I just kind of close my eyes and I'm like, 'oh, lord, she's gonna be an actress'" Our first example of Selena comparing herself to others.
More on that later.Mandy hustled for Selena in the industry, and she was put in a world where she was exposed to rejection very early on in her life, "[my mom] taught me how to handle rejection well," she tells an interviewer at 2012's Glamour Women of the Year. Sure.
She also revealed in her E! special that she tries very hard to make her mom proud,
"I think still, to this day, I don't feel like I'm good enough for my mom."To which Mandy replies, in tears, "
I don't know why she would feel that way. She was given an opportunity to be on the Disney Channel and that was a dream of hers. So how, as a parent, can you say "oh, well, it doesn't work out for me." You know? You have to support it.
And I don't really expect anything from her. I don't expect for her to be perfect. She makes me really proud and she's a great kid."
That's sweet and weirdly emotional in a dark way.
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When Selena's mom and dad split up, she says she didn't understand it. Her cousin, Priscilla Deleon, says (crying),
"I remember Selena was always like, "Priscilla, why can't my parents be like yours?" and it was really hard to answer that."Comparing herself to others is a theme that's proven to be consistent with Selena Gomez. Would that have been something she could have grown out of or learned from? Sure, yet who's to say? But
perhaps this is a reference to the theory mentioned in the title: that child stars stay mentally stuck in what they were like during the height of their fame.![]()
Later on down the road, Selena flew to Hollywood for an audition for a potential Lizzie McGuire spin-off show called 'Stevie Sanchez'
"I went over my script a thousand times on the plane. I remember thinking that was a sign because I was so obsessed with [Lizzie McGuire]. I was like, "this is destiny! I have to have this." I read the script to them. It was horrible. It's probably one of my worst auditions. And they were like, "okay, thank you!" And... I was done, I went to the lobby and I just cried and I just felt like I didn't get it.
I was shy. I probably wasn't as vibrant as the other girls."
Selena got the part. A year later, however, she also got the news that the show didn't pick up. But President and Chief Creative Officer for Disney Channels Worldwide, Gary Marsh, didn't give up on her. She made her Disney Channel debut on 'The Suite Life of Zack and Cody', where she also had her first kiss "in front of an audience, in front of four cameras, in front of my mom."
With this, she showed she was able to handle the set of a sitcom, and Disney would once again fly her back to Hollywood, from Texas. This time, it was for two pilots. "I remember she was like, "I was the first Latina to book two pilots for Disney at the same time," and she was really proud about that," says her cousin Priscilla.
She got the part of Alex Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place, so she packed her bags and moved to Hollywood. She "hated the city", missed her family so much she "cried for 3 months", but ultimately decided to tough it all out.
"I don't realize how much I have going on until I have those moments where I break down, because it's so much," she says in 2011.
Gary Marsh:
"We offered her the lead in one of our next musicals, 'Camp Rock'. And she did something that was... at the time, frustrating for us, but ultimately genius: she said, "no." [...] At the time, I thought, "you are our star, I want to put you on the next pedestal and launch you," and she was even smarter than I was in that case."'Wizards' ended up winning an Emmy, and at 16, Selena was ready to get started on her music career.
Abbey Konowich:
"She wanted to differentiate herself from the other girls in the market place and she wanted to have a band. In fact, originally, she didn't even want to use her own name."Selena was
booming. She was the lead on an award-winning show under one of the largest corporations, her first album exceeded Disney's expectations, and amidst all of Miley Cyrus' scandals and "wild" ways, she was the "honest" one. The "transparent" one. And
the way she would subtly talk down on herself was viewed as a super star just being humble. She was praised as the anti-Miley, which quickly became a massive part of her brand.![]()
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This is something that Selena still clings on to, and while being the 'anti-Miley' is no longer necessarily what it is, it definitely evolved from that... into whatever the hell it is now. A girl trapped in what sells to the conservatives and the patriarchy that has even the most liberal of minds in the palms of its claws? Probably.
"I never really said ' I wanna be a role model', but then when it happened, I was so down for it. Once I realized that - I had a little girl come up to you and say she wants to be just like you [sic]? It was beautiful, and I accept it. I'm human. I'm not perfect. And I make mistakes all the time.
But I guess my job is to keep those mistakes to myself and just try to be the best I can be for those kids."
Selena's music was doing pretty well, but she wanted to focus more on her acting. She wanted to be in movies that weren't attached to Disney and she wanted to become a serious actress.
"I just don't feel like I've accomplished enough in film. So I just genuinely need to take a break from [music]."
During an interview after Selena Gomez' first musical gig in London, she was asked where her heart is in terms of acting vs. singing,
"I mean, if I had to choose one, I suppose it would be acting."It didn't work out for her.
Nobody wanted to see her in movies because her style of acting didn't translate well into leading roles for serious films. Producers were pushing her to do more music, despite most likely being aware of her lack of skills in the singing department.
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Probably a massive slap of discouragement in the face for this one.
How do you go from being praised by Disney to being rejected by anyone else as you're trying to grow out of Disney the way Disney is growing out of you?Selena sucked it up and toughed it out once again, releasing album after album, but not quite giving up on her acting dreams. In case you didn't already know:
Selena Gomez' opportunistic traits have been shining a lot lately as she accepts a role in a Woody Allen film amidst the flooding of news regarding sexual harassment in Hollywood.But she isn't new to trying to have her cake and eat it too. She said during a press conference for Spring Breakers, "I think it was right for me. You know, I do everything for my younger fans, I do everything for my fans, and this was... more for me, in a way."
Fair. But to expect American audiences to view her as a
woman growing up from the pure Disney star brand was just... not really something American audiences do.
"I don't really know what the right way to make that transition is, I'm just trying to do the best I can and I just - knock on wood - hope to just continue to do it well."
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Parents and long-time fans alike compared her accepting the role in Spring Breakers (where she drinks and smokes on film) as a scandalous Miley move or another Britney breaking out from her good girl image. There were even rumours of Selena Gomez having break downs on set, slowly becoming a mess.
Selena Gomez, who was beginning to have conflicts in her relationship with Justflop Bieber around the time of Spring Breakers' release, didn't handle the shaming and the rumours well.
In fact, she seems to spiral within that very cycle; leave the spoiled white man, handle the bad stuff on her own, go back to the spoiled white man, repeat. And with her focus being directed more towards what other people think - what her fans think - she forgets herself.
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"I would remind the younger version of me that she's doing a really great job. Cause I think she's gonna need to hear that sometimes." -Selena Gomez, Nov. 2017Sources:
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6what would you change about your lovely(?) personalities, ontd?
