Selena Gomez is getting candid about her complicated relationship with her ex, Justin Bieber.
In a new interview with NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro for Weekend Edition Sunday, the 27-year-old singer opened up about her new album, Rare, and the personal connection she has to her lyrics.
When the topic of her hit single, “Lose You to Love Me,” came up, Gomez started by talking about the meaning behind the ballad.
“I felt I didn’t get a respectful closure, and I had accepted that, but I know I needed some way to just say a few things that I wish I had said,” she explained. “It’s not a hateful song; it’s a song that is saying — I had something beautiful and I would never deny that it wasn’t that. It was very difficult and I’m happy it’s over. And I felt like this was a great way to just say, you know, it’s done, and I understand that, and I respect that, and now here I am stepping into a whole other chapter.”
Interviewer Garcia-Navarro then pressed, “Saying goodbye to Justin Bieber, who I’m assuming you’re speaking about,” prompting Gomez to reply, “You had to get the name in, I get it.”
Gomez went on to claim that the ups and downs of her relationship with Bieber were not what she would consider some of the harder times in her life because she “found the strength in it.”
“It’s dangerous to stay in a victim mentality. And I’m not being disrespectful, I do feel I was a victim to certain abuse,” she began, before Garcia-Navarro asked if she meant emotional abuse.
“Yes, and I think that it’s something that — I had to find a way to understand it as an adult,” she said. “And I had to understand the choices I was making. As much as I definitely don’t want to spend the rest of my life talking about this, I am really proud that I can say I feel the strongest I’ve ever felt and I’ve found a way to just walk through it with as much grace as possible.”
NPR reached out to Bieber for comment following the interview, and ET has also reached out to reps for Bieber for comment.
This isn’t the first time Gomez has opened up about her love life while promoting her album.
