10 things you probably didn’t know about Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez attends the 2022 premiere of “Selena Gomez: My Mind And Me.” Frazer Harrison/WireImage

She was named after the iconic Tejano singer Selena.

Selena Gomez and Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Cindy Ord/Getty Staff/Vinnie Zuffante/Contributor
During season two of “Selena + Chef,” Gomez revealed the inspiration behind her name and that her parents almost didn’t name her that.

“I’m actually named after Selena Quintanilla,” she said. “It gives me goosebumps sometimes because I was obsessed with Selena. I knew everything about her. I was just such a fan. My real name was going to be Priscilla, and my dad said, ‘No. I want her name to be Selena.”‘

The only social media app Gomez has on her phone is TikTok.

Selena Gomez at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. George Pimentel/Getty Contributor
When it comes to social media, Gomez keeps most apps off her phone with the exception of TikTok.

“The only thing I have on my phone is TikTok because I find it to be a little less hostile,” she told Vanity Fair. “There are wonderful things about social media—connecting with fans, seeing how happy and excited they are and their stories. But usually that’s filtered through.”

“I created a system. Everything I do I send to my assistant who posts them. As far as comments, my team will put together a few things that are encouraging,” she added.

Gomez adores Britney Spears, using the entertainer’s iconic moments as inspirations for her own performances.

Selena Gomez during her Revival Tour in San Jose, California in May 2016. C Flanigan / Getty Contributor
Britney Spears holds a special place in Gomez’s heart. Not only was “Baby One More Time” her first CD, it was also the first concert she went to, the entertainer told Marie Claire.

“We were all the way up in the nosebleeds, but I was living my life,” she said. “It was so fun.”

For her 2016 Revival Tour, Gomez took a note from Spears’ gem-studded outfit from “Toxic” and wore a similar look.

“I’m not going to lie,” Gomez told Vogue. “Britney Spears inspired it from ‘Toxic,’ so I wanted to find a moment where that could kind of have its place. Still have the outfit. Do I put it on and try to sing? Sometimes.”

She wrote the hit track “Lose You to Love Me” in 45 minutes.

Selena Gomez in her music video for “Lose You to Love Me.” YouTube
One of Gomez’s biggest hits, “Lose You to Love Me,” which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, was actually the result of a 45-minute writing session.

“I texted Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter and said, ‘I’m ready to just say I’m sad,'” she said during the Apple original film “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me,” adding “Lose You to Love Me” was the fastest song she had ever written.

“It’s about more than just a lot lost,” Gomez continued. “It’s me learning to choose myself. To choose life. But also hoping that people can find grace and peace in that, too. The song is about that you completely lost every part of who you are. Just to rediscover yourself again. ”

Gomez loves McDonald’s. Loves it.

McDonald’s. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Gomez’s love of fast food is well-documented. She once had her assistant hold her half-eaten cheeseburger while she walked the red carpet at the KIIS-FM Jingle Ball in 2015.

Before her performance at the 2015 Victoria’s Secret fashion show, she ate McDonald’s backstage.

And in the middle of her 2016 appearance on “Carpool Karaoke with Late Late Show“ host James Corden, she ordered a No. 7 and a medium Coca-Cola going at McDonald’s drive-through.

Gomez named her new kidney after Fred Armisen.

Selena Gomez and Fred Armisen. Emma McIntyre/FilmMagic / Paula Lobo/NBC via Getty Images
Gomez has been open about her battle with lupus, which resulted in a kidney transplant in 2017.

The six-hour operation was complicated by a broken artery which required the doctors retrieve a vein from Gomez’s leg and build a new artery to keep the kidney in place.

Despite that, the entertainer has a good attitude about the transplant, even going so far as to naming the kidney after comedian and actor Fred Armisen.

“As a way of coping, I thought I would name it,” she said on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “It’s weird, I know, but I did. And I named it after Fred Armisen. Because I love ‘Portlandia,’ and I love everything he does. And so I’m like, ‘Hey watch Fred, guys,’ you know?”

Gomez admitted that Armisen knows about her kidney’s pet name.

“He sent me flowers,” she added. “I was so excited.”

Gomez has the word “Rare” tattooed on her neck.

Selena Gomez’s “Rare” tattoo. Instagram
Ahead of the release of her “Rare” album, Gomez got a tattoo below her right ear to celebrate.

While chatting with NPR in January 2020, Selena explained why she chose to get the tattoo and what the word “rare” meant to her.

“The word has meant so much more to me than just a title of a song,” Gomez explained. “We live in a time where everything is based on your looks and social media and there are so many different channels telling people what they should look like, and how they should do this, do that. And I want to represent a person that is just saying, ‘You are who are; you’re unique and you’re rare.'”

The inspiration for “Boyfriend” on 2020’s “Rare” was pretty simple.

Selena Gomez in the music video for “Boyfriend.” YouTube
For the song “Boyfriend” off the album “Rare,” Gomez’s writing inspiration was pretty simple: she wanted a boyfriend.

“One day I walked in, and the producers were like, ‘How are you?'” she told Rolling Stone. “And I was like, ‘I want a boyfriend.’ They were like, ‘Oh, should we write about that?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And that’s the whole song: I want a boyfriend.”

New York is a place where Gomez can disappear.

New York City. Francesco Riccardo Iacomino/Getty Images
When Gomez resides in New York, she has a “system” that includes a workout routine and favorite coffee spots to frequent.

In an interview with Rolling Stone published in November 2022, the entertainer even showed a picture of the apartment she would rent.

“This is probably the most you’ll hear about me for a while,” Gomez said, partly referring to the documentary “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me.” “I want this to come out, but I also want this behind me. Every now and then it’s important to just disappear.”

Gomez views her “Only Murders in the Building” costars as grandpa-type figures.

Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short in season one, episode one of “Only Murders in the Building.” Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu
Gomez and her “Only Murders in the Building” costars, Steve Martin and Martin Short, get along incredibly well, so much so, she views them as grandpas, of sorts.

“I really love them,” she told Vanity Fair. “I don’t like calling them my grandpas, but they kind of are. They’ll tell me the same jokes and I laugh every time.”

“What’s funny is Marty will text me, but Steve will not,” she continued. “He has my email, but he won’t send me the email. He will send it to [my assistant]. I think he wants to be polite. It’s very endearing, but he makes it a whole thing.”