Selena Gomez, 31, was honest about what it’s like being the most-followed woman on Instagram, and having the “responsibility” of being someone that fans look up to, when she candidly spoke about her success at Universal Music Group and Thrive Global’s Music & Health conference on Sept. 19.
“It can be a little heavy,” Selena said at the panel, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The “Lose You To Love Me” singer, who has over 400 million Instagram followers, continued, “I feel for people, and I think that’s what kind of keeps me in check, to be honest.”
“I think I can be a little reckless with my emotions and having conversations with young people, women who are going through divorces or going through chemo — it’s not just about me, and I’m fully aware of that,” Selena also said. “I will just always cherish it. It’s a big responsibility, though. It’s a little scary.”
Selena explained at the panel that she’s “never cared” about her impressive stat on Instagram. The former Disney Channel star made it clear that her mission on social media is to help others, not to set records with how many people are on her followers list.
“I suppose I’m grateful for the platform, and I would love to continue to use it for what I’m able to do,” Selena said, “but numbers are just numbers.”
As fans know, Selena opened up about her life like never before with her 2022 Apple TV+ documentary My Mind & Me. At the music and health conference, the Only Murders in the Building star admitted that she was initially “very against” releasing the doc, which talked a lot about her mental and physical health struggles.
“There was a very long period of time where I just didn’t know if it was a good idea,” she said about the project, per THR. “I knew, eventually, one day I wanted to maybe just be an actress for a while, and I didn’t know if it would jeopardize things in my life. I don’t know what I’m doing, letting people into my life. And then the moment it was released…I had no choice at that point. And I was relieved. I felt like a huge weight was lifted. I felt like I got to say things that I’ve been keeping in for years.”
While Selena said she’s happy with how My Mind & Me turned out, despite it being “very hard” for her to watch, she doesn’t want to have to relive her struggles again like that. “I will never watch it again,” the Rare Beauty founder said, “but I’m very proud of it. I couldn’t have been luckier to have the people that worked on it with me.”