Selena Gomez Explains Why She Wouldn’t Choose Childhood Fame for Herself

Selena Gomez memorably got her start on Barney & Friends at age 10, then went on to star in Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place throughout her teen years. While the Emilia Pérez actress, one of ELLE’s Women in Hollywood honorees, assures us she is grateful for her career, looking back now, she would admittedly start in the industry a little later.

“I have no regrets and I have a fantastic family and there were rules laid down by my parents and I’m appreciative of that,” Gomez said of being a child star. “However, I don’t think I would’ve done it very young if I was thinking of myself now. There were a lot of things that I felt stunted by. Then adding a lot of pressure from a lot of people didn’t help me develop a sense of self in my twenties. It was a very difficult time. I live with it every day. I try my hardest to stay positive about everything and focus on things like this [movie] that really make me happy. But I would just say maybe wait and have a little bit of a life.”

She also reflected on her most challenging project, Spring Breakers, “because I was only 18 or 19,” she said. “It was the first thing I did right after my Disney show, and it was such a crazy detour. That’s when I knew I was going to fall in love with filmmakers and really gritty, fun stuff that was a little too graphic.”

Read Gomez’s full interview here with her Emilia Pérez castmates and fellow honorees Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón.

Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.