We’ve been in an era for several years now where nearly everyone has a side hustle. Of course, most of us don’t have an incredibly lucrative side hustle like Only Murders in the Building star Selena Gomez. Her company, Rare Beauty, made the singer/actress a billionaire in 2024, just a bit over five years after the brand was founded. Now, the 2025 TV schedule star has opened up about why such success hasn’t actually increased her happiness.
Why Hasn’t Owning A Beauty Empire Made Selena Gomez Happier?
Selena Gomez has had a big year. Not only is she still riding high on the success of her hit series with Martin Short and Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building (which just name-dropped Jennifer Aniston), but she was recently wed to music producer Benny Blanco in a barefoot and Thai food-focused celebration.
Her beauty empire, which is spearheaded by Rare Beauty, is also still going strong, but when speaking at Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women conference, she noted that none of her career highs have made her any happier overall, and said:
One of the biggest fears, one of the biggest emotions that you can be fearful of is joy. Because, this is how I work personally, when something great happens in my life, I expect something bad to happen. So, instead of being present, and saying, ‘OK wow, we’ve done a great thing…’ I’m always thinking, ‘OK but this could all go away tomorrow. So how can I make sure that doesn’t happen?’
WOW. It’s nearly unfathomable that someone who’s as successful as Gomez (and who’s been on top of a variety of industries since she was a teen) could still think the way she does, but I totally get it. The Emila Pérez star has been very open about her struggles with mental health over the past several years, and even allowed an emotional documentary, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, to be filmed which put a spotlight on her bipolar disorder diagnosis and other challenges.
The “Sunset Blvd” singer has spoken in the past about how she takes care of her mental wellbeing, with calling or hanging out with buddies and binging Friends being two of the things she likes to do to unwind on her (probably few) days off.
Additionally, she’s so committed to helping others in their mental health journeys that she created the Rare Impact Fund to help “young people gain access to mental health resources,” and a portion of the proceeds from every Rare Beauty sale goes to the fund. She even held an inaugural benefit for the fund in 2023. Gomez continued:
Then I can just get wrapped up in that, as opposed to enjoying things. And I would say that’s my biggest conflict sometimes.
Look, they say that half the battle whenever you’re facing serious issues is coming to terms with whatever it is and facing it head-on, so at least Taylor Swift’s bestie has that part down, and isn’t letting anxiety stop her flow!
