Selena Gomez Says She’s “Really Ashamed” of Sexualized Album Cover

• Gomez opened up about being sexualized at a young age.
• She felt pressure to make sexy album covers when she first started her singing career.
• Selena Gomez says she avoids social media because of the expectation to be beautiful.

Selena Gomez joined Amy Schumer, Tracee Ellis Ross, Quinta Brunson, Molly Shannon, and Bridget Everett for a roundtable discussion to discuss their experiences in the entertainment industry.

On June 16, Selena Gomez hosted a roundtable discussion with Amy Schumer, Tracee Ellis Ross, Quinta Brunson, Molly Shannon, and Bridget Everett to explore their experiences in the entertainment industry. Gomez began acting in 2002 and rose to stardom when she was 15 years old as Alex Russo on Disney Channel’s “Wizards of Waverly Place.” During the conversation, the actor frankly discussed her experience of being sexualized by the entertainment industry at a young age, as well as the pressure she felt to make sexy album covers when she first started her singing career.

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The remarkable group of women fell into a debate about harmful beauty standards placed on women in the entertainment industry after touching on their different projects, which included “Black-ish,” “Life After Beth,” “Abbott Elementary,” and more. “It must have been difficult for someone like Selena, who was sexualized at such a young age,” Schumer says, applauding Gomez’s development as an individual since then. “But you kind of have rejected that [objectification] and really found your own style and presence. I know they put you in a system that makes you feel like this is how you have to do it, and — especially when you’re getting that positive feedback when people are attracted to you or whatever — it takes a long time to go, ‘Yeah, I’m going to go in this direction [instead].'”

Nodding, Gomez replies, “Yeah, that’s really unfair. I actually did an album cover and I was really ashamed after I did it. I had to work through those feelings because I realized they were attached to something deeper that was going on, and it was a choice that I wasn’t necessarily happy that I made, but I think that I’ve done my best [since then], at least.”

Gomez has had more time to concentrate on her public image and how she wants to express herself as she has separated herself from the toxic beauty culture fueled by social media and the entertainment industry. She had a similar attitude in a 2020 interview with Allure, saying that she felt “pressure” to appear seductive while posing for the cover of her 2015 album “Revival,” which she released when she was 22. Gomez poses in her underwear with her arms and legs bent in front of her to hide her naked chest in the album booklet’s black-and-white photos.”I just did things that weren’t really me,” she said at the time. “There was pressure to seem more adult on my album, ‘Revival.’ [I felt] the need to show skin . . . I really don’t think I was [that] person.”

Gomez adds that the unwavering expectation to be beautiful is another reason she notably avoids social media, reflecting on a moment in her life when she felt susceptible to the whims of the music industry and unable to speak out for herself.  “I can’t look that way. I don’t find it attainable, and the moment I’m not on [social media], everything else becomes real,” she says in the roundtable discussion, referencing the photos on Instagram that promote idealistic body norms.

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Gomez’s observations regarding the entertainment industry’s toxic beauty culture correlate with statements made by other celebrities such as Natalie Portman and Alyson Stoner, who have openly discussed the damaging mental and physical effects of being sexualized at such a young age. With a fourth studio album on the pipeline and a new musical period kicking off, Gomez is ready to break free from her industry-constructed image and be herself in every aspect. Speaking at the roundtable, she adds, “I’ve tried to be myself, and myself is not an overly sexual person. Sometimes I like to feel sexy, but it doesn’t mean [I’m doing it] for somebody else. It can be for me.”