Selena Gomez stepped away from social media to treat herself with kindness.
The Only Murders in the Building actress recently reflected on turning over her social media passwords to her assistant following her 2018 split from an on-again/off-again relationship with Justin Bieber, explaining how online hate surrounding the breakup impacted her mental health.
"I went through a hard time in a breakup, and I didn't want to see any of the [feedback]—not necessarily about the relationship, but the opinions of me versus [someone] else," Selena told Vanity Fair in an article published Feb. 15. "There'd be thousands of really nice comments, but my mind goes straight to the mean one."
Months after Justin and Selena parted ways, the "Peaches" singer proposed to now-wife Hailey Bieber. The aftermath of their relationship weighed heavily on Selena, 30, who had become "inundated with information that I didn't want" since an early age.
"People can call me ugly or stupid and I'm like, Whatever. But these people get detailed," she continued. "They write paragraphs that are so specific and mean. I would constantly be crying. I constantly had anxiety…I couldn't do it anymore. It was a waste of my time."
The singer, who returned to Instagram in January after letting her team manage the account, has now "created a system" where she can interact with social media on her own terms.
And there is one app in particular she finds herself turning to.
"The only thing I have on my phone is TikTok because I find it to be a little less hostile," she said. "There are wonderful things about social media—connecting with fans, seeing how happy and excited they are and their stories. But usually that's filtered through [for me now]. Everything I do I send to my assistant who posts them. As far as comments, my team will put together a few things that are encouraging."
On Hailey's behalf, the model spoke out in September about the speculation that she had "stolen" Justin from Selena, who she posed for a photo with in October.
"Of course, there's a very long history there and it's not my relationship," Hailey said Sept. 28 episode on the Call Her Daddy podcast. "It has nothing to do with me. So, I respect that a lot, but I know that it closed a chapter and I think it was the best thing that could have happened for him to move on and be engaged and get married and like, move on with, with his life in that way."