Who says Selena Gomez isn't a talented actress?
Yes, she made a name for herself with the Disney Channel show Wizards of Waverly Place, but there's so much more to her than people think. "I felt like it was very difficult for people to take me seriously," she said on The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast on June 13. "I have slowly pushed through that, and I'm really glad, but it was very frustrating. I felt like a joke, you know?"
The Rare Beauty founder noted that she has ambitions to work with directors like Fight Club's David Fincher and American Hustle's David O'Russell, "who will push me to the edge to go and fight for something." She added, "That's the kind of acting that I crave to do more than anything."
But Finch and O'Russell will have to wait their turn to work with Gomez, who recently wrapped filming on season two of Hulu's Only Murders in the Buildings, as well as her HBO Max series Selena + Chef. Plus, she's working on a new album. So yeah, her schedule is a bit full right now.
"My therapist is like, ‘Girl, are you ever gonna find a man?!'" she shared. "I'm like, ‘I dunno'"
But Gomez likes it this way. As she approaches her 30th birthday (July 22), she's feeling content with the way her life has panned out. "I am happy getting older," she reflected. "I find that my toleration for any sort of discomfort, usually disrespect or whatever, even just unnecessary stuff—I feel so glad that it's not taking over me anymore. My emotions are mine and I am allowed to feel them however I want to feel them."
Her life could've looked a lot different had her mom, Mandy Teefey, not encouraged her to pursue her dreams. In an alternate reality, Gomez thinks she would have four kids like her friends still living in Texas. Alas, "There's nothing wrong with the life I would have led," she added. "I just know that that's not my path, and I'm really grateful I had my mom to give me that opportunity to be what I want to be."
And had she not become an actress, she wouldn't have met her Only Murders in the Building co-stars Martin Short and Steve Martin, who have taught her a lot about what she deserves in a partner.
"Being around two adult gentlemen—because that's what they are, they are very sweet and kind and hilarious and inappropriate sometimes and it's the best—I just learned so much," she said. "And my expectation for a man, to be honest, or any human, is to be as decent as these two human beings are. They have been doing this longer than I've been alive, and they are the kindest people."
But again, there's no rush to find a man. As Gomez said, "I just am in a really good space right now, and I'm enjoying it."