As of recently, the news has revolved around two big names in pop culture: Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber. The question is: What actually happened between the two and why is the internet going crazy over it?
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber were the “it” couple during the early 2010s. Later on, Justin and Hailey dated for six months in 2016 before reuniting in 2018, a month after Justin’s breakup with Selena. Justin and Hailey then got engaged in July 2018 and married in September of that same year. Hailey commented on the quick rebound on a podcast stating “I’m not interested in doing that and I never was. I can say I was never with him when he was in a relationship with anybody.” While this wasn’t the spark of the new drama, fans were quick to bring up this shady reconnection between the newlyweds so quickly after an iconic breakup.
The feud started back up when Hailey was spotted making digs at Selena for her recent changes in her appearance. Fans quickly called out several posts of Hailey mocking Gomez’s eyebrows, weight gain, and found it hypocritical that the next week Bieber was accused of copying Gomez’s signature style. Bieber was spotted in more than a handful of posts mimicking exact replicas of outfits worn by Selena previously. Furthermore, Kylie Jenner and Hailey Bieber have been called out for teaming up against Selena and her inner circle on multiple occasions. Clips of Jenner and Bieber surfaced where they were seen making fun of a post Gomez made poking fun at her own eyebrows to which Jenner commented “This was an accident?” and the two were later seen on FaceTime showing closeups of their eyebrows. This soon sparked fans to start unfollowing both Jenner and Bieber and swarms of new followers found their way to Selena’s account, amassing over 400 million followers making her the most followed person on the app.
However, it felt like avid “Jelena” (Justin and Selena’s ‘ship name’) fans began to reach for content to use against the Bieber family. For example, Justin Bieber was accused of shading Selena Gomez amid her drama with Hailey Bieber in March 2023. The accusations came when Justin hosted his 29th birthday party after he performed at Rolling Loud California and gave guests a silver souvenir that read: “I’m so thankful that I didn’t end up with what I thought I wanted,” which fans assumed was shade toward Selena. Justin then denied these rumors and it seemed that the hate redirected to focus solely on Hailey.
The former “Kill ‘Em With Kindness” singer took to her platform to stop this vengeful tirade. Selena Gomez returned to social media amid her drama with Hailey Bieber on March 5, 2023, with a makeup tutorial on her TikTok. “Thank you and love you all so much. I’m deeply grateful for each and every one of you humans. You make me unbelievably happy,” she wrote in a comment. She added in a second comment, “Please, please be kinder and consider others' mental health. My heart has been heavy and I only want good for everyone. All my love.” Later that same day, fans pointed out that both Selena and Hailey followed each other on Instagram, seemingly putting the rivalry to a halt.