Selena Gomez won big last night at the American Music Awards (AMA), taking home the award for Favorite Artist in the pop/rock genre, but she won the audience with her empowering speech. The singer has been battling some serious mental health issues, side effects from lupus, and she’s been out of the spotlight for a couple months.
“As many of you know, around a year ago I revealed that I have lupus, an illness that can affect people in different ways,” she told People in August following the end of her Revival tour. “I’ve discovered that anxiety, panic attacks and depression can be side effects of lupus, which can present their own challenges.”
During her AMA acceptance speech, she thanked her audience for being so supportive and also shared about how difficult it is to be in the spotlight all the time. This is what she had to say:
Thank you guys so much. In 2014, this stage was actually the first time that I was authentically 100 percent honest with all of you. I think it’s safe to say that most of you know a lot of my life, whether I liked it or not, and I had to stop. I had everything and I was absolutely broken inside. I kept it all together enough to where I would never let you down, but I kept it too much together to where I let myself down.
I don’t want to see your bodies on Instagram. I want to see what’s in here [puts hand over heart]. I’m not trying to get validation, nor do I need it anymore. All I can say from the bottom of my heart is that I’m so grateful that I have the opportunity to be able to share what I love every single day with people that I love. And I have to say thank you so much to my fans because you guys are so damn loyal and I don’t know what I did to deserve you. But if you are broken, you do not have to stay broken. If that’s anything, whether you respect me or not, that’s one thing you should know about me is that I care about people. Thank you so much for this. This is for you.
