Selena Gomez confirmed for the first time that she was diagnosed with lupus.
In the new cover story with Billboard, she speaks about the autoimmune disease and how it forced her to cancel part of her Stars Dance tour in 2013 and 2014.
“I was diagnosed with lupus, and I’ve been through chemotherapy.
That’s what my break was really about.
I could’ve had a stroke,” Gomez said.
Around the same time, reports that she had been diagnosed with lupus began to circulate, but neither Gomez nor her reps would confirm or deny the news.
At the time, her tour cancelation prompted rumors that Gomez had gone to rehab.
“I’ve lived such a public life that I understand that I’m under a microscope,” she said.
“That has taken me into so many different phases.
"It’s made me depressed and it’s made me happy and it’s made me grateful and humble—but [I’ve learned] it’s okay to let down my walls with my music, to feel sexy and good.”
Said Gomez.