Why Selena Gomez Is Embracing Her “Tough” Breakup and Health Struggles

Look at her now.

After several difficult years—including public breakups with Justin Bieber and The Weeknd, a kidney transplant and lupus diagnosis—Selena Gomez learned to, simply put, love herself.

“I was, you know, obviously going through a really tough breakup, and then I was left with the question of my career and where am I gonna go and what’s gonna happen?” Selena told The Hollywood Reporter. “And then my medical stuff kind of kicked in.

She continued, “But, being on the other side of it, I have to be honest, it’s actually been really good for me. It allowed me to develop a character where I don’t tolerate any sort of nonsense or disrespect in any way, and I’m really proud of how I came out of it.”

Now on the other side, she’s thankful for the ups and the downs. “It was necessary for me to walk through those things. I had a lot of soul-searching to do,” the 29-year-old said. “By all means I don’t have life figured out, but I do know that during that time I was learning so much about myself.”