Selena Gomez Says Her Childhood 'Felt Very "Gilmore Girls"' After Mom Had Her at 16: 'We Grew Up Together'
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12/11/2024 04:39 PM
"I am so grateful that we were there for each other," the 'Emilia Pérez actress told Saoirse Ronan during their 'Variety' Actors on Actors interview.
Selena Gomez is gushing over her mom!
On Wednesday, Dec. 11, the Only Murders in the Building star sat down with Saoirse Ronan in a joint interview for Variety's "Actors on Actors" series.
"My mom had me when she was 16," Gomez, 32, began, while likening her experience to that of Ronan's, 30, recent role in Blitz, where she plays a young mom.
"I do feel that we grew up together, and that's a different perspective than someone who would wait until they're older to have a child," the singer-actress continued. "I am so grateful that we were there for each other. It felt very Gilmore Girls."
"My mom was fantastic," the Rare Beauty founder shared. "She would never put me in a room by myself; she was very aware of things that I didn't know. For example, if I had to go to a premiere and I was 16, she'd say, 'You can't go to the after-party. You can have fun, and then you're going to go home.' Little things that helped my sanity, if you will."
This isn't the first time Gomez has opened up about her close relationship with mother, Mandy Teefey. "My mom gave up everything for me and had, like, three jobs," said during a previous E! special.
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Selena Gomez and Mom Mandy TeefeyTeefey, 48, told ET in a 2017 interview that she was "very judged" for being a teen mom. "My neighborhood was a really rough neighborhood [with] gangs. With all of that stuff, and when I got pregnant, I think that's what triggered, because I was like, 'Okay, I have another person depending on me. I gotta get straight,' and that's when I started hammering through. I'm like, 'I'm not going to let her have the upbringing I did.' "
Gomez, who "got to play a mom in Emilia Pérez," described the experience as "very sweet," but admitted she "was intimidated."
"There is something about children that is fearless, and I appreciate that so much, and I miss it a little," she told Ronan.
In musical-crime film Emilia Pérez, the former Disney star plays Jessi, the devoted wife of Mexican drug lord Juan "Manitas" Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), who has privately identified as female. An attorney named Rita, played by Zoe Saldaña, helps Manitas fake their death and receive gender-affirming surgery, becoming Emilia Pérez. Pérez later seeks Rita's help in reuniting with Jessi and their children.
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Selena GomezOn Dec. 9, Gomez received a Golden Globe nomination for best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in any motion picture for her role in Emilia Pérez.
She was also nominated for best performance by a female actor in a television series — musical or comedy for Only Murders in the Building, where she plays podcast host Mabel Mora alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short, who both received nominations as well.
"I don't even know what to write. I'm so proud of @zoesaldana and I am so grateful and honored @goldenglobes," Gomez captioned a video of her receiving the nomination news on Instagram Stories at the time.
