Selena Gomez has addressed her health days after disclosing that she has been diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease.
The former Disney child actress and singer was forced to cancel her tour of Australia and Asia in 2013 to undergo a course of chemotherapy. She criticised tabloid speculation at the time for suggesting her hiatus was related to drink, drugs or personal problems, telling Billboard: “That’s what my break was really about. I could’ve had a stroke. I wanted so badly to say, ‘You guys have no idea. I’m in chemotherapy. You’re a**holes’.”
Gomez, 23, was asked about her condition when she appeared on the Today Show four days after her comments were published.
“To be honest it still kind of makes me a little uncomfortable to talk about it,” she told Matt Lauer and Hoda Kotb.
”But genuinely I feel like I'm able to reach my fans and understand people when I am one-on-one with them, and they're kind of dealing with the same thing because I've been there. So I'm just trying to take something that maybe is negative and turn it a positive.”
Lupus is a poorly understood autoimmune condition that can cause the immune system to attack healthy cells, tissue and organs. Ninety per cent of cases have been diagnosed in women, according to the NHS. Lupus is not contagious and can be triggered by a number of variables, such as trauma or pregnancy.
