Former Disney kid Selena Gomez has been on quite a run lately. Not only did she recently have a homecoming of sorts by appearing on Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (the sequel spinoff to the series that made her famous as a teen) but her Hulu hit Only Murders in the Building was renewed for Season 5 and she was recently awarded billionaire status because of her makeup line, Rare Beauty. While she’s currently killing it as an adult, she recently revealed that she was a child star when she realized that “diverse roles” matter, and it was because of a fan interaction.
What Fan Interaction Made Selena Gomez Realize That Diverse Roles Matter When She Was A Child Star?
Thankfully, there has been a greater emphasis placed on diversity in front of and behind the camera over the past several years, and Selena Gomez (who has Mexican ancestry) has certainly been someone who’s helped viewers see that all types of people are multifaceted, and done so since she played a certain teen wizard on the Disney Channel.
While speaking at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Gala (via People) recently, where she accepted the award for Equity in Entertainment, she remembered a time when she was filming at 15, and a mother from the audience came up to her, adding:
She was with her daughter and she said, 'I'm so excited and happy. Thank you for being someone that looks like my daughter on TV because she can finally look up to someone like her.’
Even though the Emilia Pérez star is now known for her activism and dedication to being a leader in areas such as mental health (even binging Friends to keep her spirits up), body positivity and overall diversity (the award she won honors those who “amplify the voices of underrepresented communities in the entertainment industry”), it’s not hard to understand that there was a time when she didn’t think so much about things like what her role as Alex Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place might mean to other kids. She continued:
I believe that young girls need to see themselves reflected in diverse roles, heroes, leaders, and complex characters. When girls see women in empowered roles like I have, it inspires them to dream big and pursue their aspirations.
The Hotel Transylvania voice actress also noted that even though, at the time, she wasn’t really considering “what the gravity of those words meant,” she was immediately “very grateful" and knew she "wanted to do my best to live up to that in whatever form that looked like.” Cut to nearly 20 years later, and it would be impossible for anyone, even Gomez herself, to say that she hasn’t fulfilled that long ago goal in spades.
