Selena Gomez is back! The Wizards of Waverly Place alum looked radiant on her first red carpet since completing treatment for mental health in December 2018.
Gomez, 28, stunned in a low-cut black dress that she paired with matching heels as she attended WE Day California at the Forum in Englewood, California, on Thursday, April 25. The former Disney Channel star was all smiles as she beamed with her dark hair pulled up. This was Gomez’s first red carpet since June 2018.
Her outing comes less than 24 hours after Gomez opened up about her difficult past few months and her decision to take a step back from the spotlight and continue to seek treatment for her struggles.
“Last year, I took a lot of time off. I think that I needed a moment to myself because I do feel like I was growing and changing,” the “Wolves” songstress said on Coach’s “Dream It Real” podcast on Wednesday, April 24.
Gomez, who was thrust into the spotlight when she was just a kid, also shared the advice she’d give her to her younger self now that she’s navigated many personal issues. “Gosh, if I knew what I know now,” she quipped before sharing her thoughts.
“I am a believer of therapy. So, I think that I have had opportunities where I kind of reflect on the younger me, and I think that a lot of the times I wished that I could hug my younger self,” she explained. “I wish I could have done and experienced a lot of things, maybe, a little differently.”
As for a common misconception Gomez thinks the public has about her? “I don’t really think people know my heart because I think that sometimes people may think that I politically say the right thing or I’m safe or I’ve been trained to speak this way,” she said. “I don’t know how to be trained. Like, how on earth would someone be training me to speak things?”
Gomez — who battles anxiety and depression — has been in and out of treatment since 2015 after her lupus diagnosis. Most recently, she checked into a facility in October 2018, the Texas native checked into a facility following “a series of panic attacks related to ongoing medical issues,” a source told Us Weekly at the time.
The Texas native took to Instagram following completion of her treatment in January 2019 writing that she is “I am proud of the person I am becoming.”