Never forget Jelena! Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber used to be one of the most famous couples in the world in the 2010s, which is why fans everywhere were upset to hear about their breakup in 2018. Since their split, Selena has started to open up about their relationship and the heartbreak that it eventually led to. Keep reading for Selena’s quotes on their breakup.

The pair had a long-term on-and-off romance which spanned for almost eight years, until they eventually split for good in 2018.

During Selena’s 2022 documentary My Mind and Me, the “Bad Liar” songstress didn’t mention Justin by name, but she did admit to feeling “haunted by a past relationship” that the public couldn’t stop talking about.

“Then, I just moved past it and I wasn’t afraid anymore,” she added. “I feel like I had to go through the worst possible heartbreak ever, and then, just forgetting everything at the drop of a hand, it was really confusing. But I just think that needed to happen. And ultimately, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

The Rare Beauty cosmetics founder has taken several breaks from social media platforms like Instagram over the past few years — and has revealed that her breakup with Justin was partly to blame.

“I had just gotten my heart broken,” she told Fast Company in October 2023. “Then there were those moments of not feeling positive about how I looked because of what I’d seen on Instagram. ‘Wow, I wish my body looked like that.’”

 

Since their breakup, Justin has married Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin), in a September 2018 wedding ceremony.

While they’ve never spoken about where their relationship stands now, Hailey did reveal that she spoke to Selena after marrying Justin.

“It’s all respect, it’s all love. That’s also why I feel like if everybody on our side knows what happened and we’re good and we could walk away from it with clarity and respect then that’s fine,” the model said on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast in September 2022. “Which had brought me a lot of peace and I’m like ‘We know what happened it is what it is.’ You’re never going to be able to correct every narrative.”

Scroll through our gallery to uncover everything Selena has ever said about her breakup with Justin.

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selena gomez justin bieber

Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage

‘Finally Be Me’

Speaking to Amy Schumer for Interview magazine in April 2020, Selena revealed the moment she felt like she was becoming herself again after a breakup with a longterm partner, hinting at Justin.

“I wrote [‘Lose You to Love Me’] at the beginning of last year, and had just gotten out of treatment,” Selena recalled. “It was a moment when I came back and I was like, ‘I’m ready to go into the studio with people I trust and start working on songs.’ There was an air around it where people were very happy, because it was like I was going to finally be me. But I didn’t necessarily see it that way at the time. When I wrote the song, I was basically saying that I needed to hit rock-bottom to understand that there was this huge veil over my face.”

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selena gomez justin bieber

Photo by Kevin Mazur/VF11/WireImage

‘Worst Possible Heartbreak Ever’

During Selena’s 2022 documentary My Mind and Me, the “Bad Liar” songstress didn’t mention Justin by name, but she did admit to feeling “haunted by a past relationship” that the public couldn’t stop talking about.

“Then, I just moved past it and I wasn’t afraid anymore,” she added. “I feel like I had to go through the worst possible heartbreak ever, and then, just forgetting everything at the drop of a hand, it was really confusing. But I just think that needed to happen. And ultimately, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

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selena gomez justin bieber

Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage

On Taking a Break From Social Media

Selena revealed that her multiple social media hiatuses over the years were partly due to her breakup with Justin.

“I had just gotten my heart broken,” she told Fast Company in October 2023. “Then there were those moments of not feeling positive about how I looked because of what I’d seen on Instagram. ‘Wow, I wish my body looked like that.’”