Featured Image Credit: @selenagomez/ Instagram/ Jay Shetty Podcast/ YouTube
Topics: Parenting, Celebrity, TV And Film, Documentaries, Life, Real Life
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Parenting, Celebrity, TV And Film, Documentaries, Life, Real Life
Selena Gomez's mother has spoken out about why she hasn't been able to watch her daughter's documentary yet.
The Wizards of Waverley Place actor - who has since gone on to become a successful singer - recently released her first documentary on Apple TV+ titled, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me.
Despite the success and positive feedback of the documentary, Gomez's mum, Manda Teefey, has revealed she's not been able to bring herself to watch it yet.
The mum has since opened up about the exact reasons why.
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The Love You Like A Love Song singer has received widespread praise for the documentary for opening up about her mental health struggles, bipolar diagnosis and health complications with lupus.
However, given the sensitive nature of the topic of mental health, it makes for a tough watch - particularly for those close to Gomez.
In an interview with Jay Shetty for his podcast, Teefey sat down with her daughter and admitted the positive reviews of the documentary make her 'more and more eager' to 'let [her] guard down' and commit to watching it all.
However, the mum isn't quite there yet and goes on to explain why.
Teefey opens up about the documentary being hard to watch in full because she and Gomez have 'lived some of that together'.
She continues: "We went through that and we found healing and we've moved past some of it.
"Even if it's something she went through and I didn't know she went through it, as a mother it's going to affect me, it's going to hurt my stomach and put me in that mindset and I'm going to wish I could go and protect her."
Teefey praises Gomez as having been 'amazing' and gotten through 'so much' as well as noting as a mother, she feels she does a lot to protect her daughter.
But Teefey worries if she sees the full documentary she'll keep apologising for not having done more.
"Maybe I could just get through the holidays to not end up going up to her all the time going, 'I'm sorry I didn't know'. Because mothers do, you know?
"You want to take away your kid's pain. You don't want them to have to experience that even though that's a part of developing who they're going to be, and how who we all are, is our pain, our suffering and our growth," she explains.
In order for Teefey to watch the documentary in full, the mum notes she'll have to be in the sort of mood where she knows she's 'not getting out of bed today' and can end up feeling 'a little funky', be alone and have a cry, before phoning up Gomez to apologise.
Gomez responded to her mum by noting she's only ever seen her documentary twice and relates to her mum because 'some of those moments were really hard'.
Gomez told her mum: "It's not you not being there, it was me not letting you be there. That was the hardest part."
If you or someone you know is struggling or in mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
You can also call 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746 at the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline.