Selena Gomez felt "really violated" as a child star.
The 25-year-old singer and actress found fame as a child through her work with Disney – where she starred on ‘Wizards of Waverley Place’ – and has said child stardom made her feel vulnerable as older male photographers would take snaps of her on the beach when she was a young teenager.
She said: "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. I didn’t like that feeling."
And the ‘Fetish’ hitmaker also recalled finding it difficult to come to terms with people noticing her for her image, rather than her work.
She noted: "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. And that scared me."
In 2016, Selena took a three month break from the spotlight after she checked herself into a treatment centre to get help with health issues related to her lupus diagnosis, and has said that experience has taught her to make sure she is "healthy and happy in [her] mind".
Speaking to Business of Fashion, the ‘Bad Liar’ singer said: "But then I would look at myself in the mirror and I just felt like, ‘I’ve had enough, I don’t know if I can go on anymore.’ And I stopped it for a second. But it didn’t mean that I didn’t love it, I just had to find what I was going to do with it. As long as I’m healthy and happy in my mind, I’m all about it."
Selena Gomez’ child star struggle
