Selena Gomez went on Miley Cyrus’ Instagram Live talk show Bright Minded and opened up to her fellow former Disney Channel star about her bipolar disorder diagnosis.
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“Recently, I went to one of the best mental hospitals in the world, but definitely in America, McLean’s Hospital, and I discussed that after years of going through a lot of different things, I realized that I was bipolar,” Gomez told Cyrus. “And so, when I got to know more information, it actually helps me. It doesn’t scare me once I know it. And I think people get scared of that, right?”
The singer compared learning about her mental health to a childhood memory: “When I was younger, I was scared of thunderstorms, and my mom bought me all these different books on thunderstorms,” said Gomez. “She said, ‘the more that you educate yourself on this, the more that you’re not going to be afraid.’ And it completely worked.”
The duo ended up talking about dealing with the emotional toll of social distancing, which caused Gomez to get emotional about her grandparents. In that same conversation, Gomez revealed that she’s donating a portion of her merchandise sales to causes like hospitals. The singer also emphasized the importance of communicating with people through this ongoing crisis.
“Being there for other people actually helps me too,” the Rare singer said. “But sometimes I have to feel it, Miley. Sometimes I gotta cry it out and I’ve got to release it and just take a deep breath and then remind myself, go back to my tools, which is, okay, where is this coming from? I understand I’m a big empath, so I feel so much of what the world is feeling, so maybe I need to take a step back from that, or whatever it is.”
Cyrus launched her Instagram Live talk show Bright Minded on March 17 to “bring light into dark times.” Before Gomez made an appearance on the show, Elton John and Kerry Washington appeared on Cyrus’ Friday episode: previous episodes of the show have featured Demi Lovato, Hilary Duff, Reese Witherspoon, and many more. Cyrus mentioned on Friday’s show that it would be Bright Minded‘s “finale,” but added “this is not for sure the finale episode … I’m just taking a hiatus.”