Selena Gomez has revealed she will be unable to carry a child to term due to her ongoing medical issues, which would mean pregnancy would pose a risk to both herself and a foetus.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, the Only Murders in the Building actor and former Disney star said she had planned to start a family by the time she turned 35.
“I haven’t ever said this, but I unfortunately can’t carry my own children,” she said. “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.”
The 32-year-old didn’t specify which medical issue in the interview, but she has previously spoken publicly about being diagnosed with lupus in 2015, a disease where the immune system attacks its own tissues and organs. A year later she was also diagnosed with anxiety and depression, which can be linked to both lupus and some medications taken to manage the condition.
Gomez underwent a kidney transplant in 2017 due to lupus. In 2020, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, after experiencing a psychotic episode during which she heard voices and felt suicidal.
In 2022, she told Rolling Stone that her need to remain on two particular medications she takes for bipolar disorder could possibly leave her unable to have a safe pregnancy. “That’s a very big, big, present thing in my life,” she said at the time.
Gomez has also said she would be open to adoption, partly because her own mother was adopted.
“I probably wouldn’t be here,” Gomez told Vanity Fair, if her mother hadn’t been adopted. “I don’t know what her life would’ve been like. She and I are very thankful for how life played out.”
Gomez told Vanity Fair she may still become a parent via a route such as adoption or surrogacy. “It’s not necessarily the way I envisioned it. I thought it would happen the way it happens for everyone,” she said. “[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.”
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In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org