Selena Gomez is one of many pop stars to have gotten her start via Disney, an impressive roster of entertainers that includes Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake.
Yet for the former “Wizards of Waverly Place” star, the fame she found during her teen years brought about a down side, such as when she felt “violated” when she noticed paparazzi were taking pictures of her while she was at the beach.
“I remember just feeling really violated when I was younger, even just being on the beach. I was maybe 15 or 16 and people were taking pictures — photographers. I don’t think anyone really knew who I was. But I felt very violated and I didn’t like it or understand it, and that felt very weird, because I was a young girl and they were grown men,” says Gomez in a candid interview with Business of Fashion. “I didn’t like that feeling.”
RELATED: Selena Gomez And The Weeknd Temporarily Move Into An Apartment Together In New York City
She also recalls when she realized it was time to part ways with the Disney Channel and move onto more adult pursuits. “I would say the last season of my show, I was probably 18 years old, is when I felt like the flip happened,” she admits. “I didn’t feel like it was about my art as much. I was on the fourth season of the show, and I felt like I was outgrowing it. I wanted something different and obviously I fell in love for the first time. There was all this stuff that was happening and I didn’t know what to do.”
For Gomez, being a famous child star was “fun,” but things gradually changed as she began to experience the darker aspects of show business. “I think it changed when I started getting known for things that weren’t [related to] my work. That’s when my passion started to really feel like it was going further and further away,” she says. “And that scared me. When I was younger, it was all fun to me. When I did state fairs and 100 people would show up, I would be stoked. That was the best feeling in the world. But when I got older, I started to become exposed to the truth behind some stuff and that’s when it flipped a little bit. I realized that, ‘Oh this is actually really hard, and kind of slimy in certain areas,’ and I didn’t realize that certain people wanted certain things from me. My confidence went through a lot with that.”
Gomez credits her mother for keeping her from falling victim to the type of pitfalls that typically befall child actors. “I’ve been doing it since I was seven,” says Gomez of her showbiz career. ” To be honest I don’t think I know anything different. It was good training, but I’m going to give the credit to my mom, because she was very aware, for some reason, of what could happen to me. She always said to me that I should have fun, and if it wasn’t fun or if I wasn’t learning something or I wasn’t growing as a person, she wanted to take me out of it. She said, ‘This entire industry is going to tell you you’re perfect and you’re great, and I’m going to tell you that you’re no better or bigger than anyone. You are the person that you are, and you are very lucky.’ That’s something that’s always been replaying in my head.”
