Selena Gomez felt ‘huge weight’ lift following bipolar diagnosis

Selena Gomez has spoken openly about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder (Picture: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Global Citizen VAX LIVE)

Selena Gomez has said she felt ‘a huge weight’ lifted after she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

The singer and actress told Elle magazine she had faced a ‘struggle’ with depression and anxiety before being diagnosed with bipolar in 2019.

‘My lupus, my kidney transplant, chemotherapy, having a mental illness, going through very public heartbreaks – these were all things that honestly should have taken me down,’ she told the magazine.

‘Every time I went through something, I was like, ‘What else? What else am I going to have to deal with?’

The 29-year-old said that deciding to help others is ‘really what kept me going’.

She explained: ‘There could have been a time when I wasn’t strong enough, and would have done something to hurt myself.’

The singer opened up in the latest issue of Elle magazine (Picture: Inez & Vinoodh)

Discussing her bipolar diagnosis, she added: ‘I felt a huge weight lifted off me when I found out. I could take a deep breath and go, “OK, that explains so much”.’

Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder that ’causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks,’ according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

The actress – who will next appear in the Hulu comedy Only Murders in the Building alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short – has long been open about her mental and physical health battles.

The full interview is available in Elle’s September 2021 Latinx issue (Picture: Inez & Vinoodh)

She first revealed her bipolar diagnosis in April 2020 during an episode of Miley Cyrus’ Instagram Live show, Bright Minded.

‘Recently I went to one of the best mental hospitals in America, McLean Hospital, and I discussed that, after years of going through a lot of different things, I realized that I was bipolar,’ she said at the time.

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‘And so when I go to know more information, it actually helps me. It doesn’t scare me once I know it… I wanted to know everything about it, and it took the fear away.’

The September Latinx issue of Elle Magazine is available now.

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