Selena Gomez is using her megastar platform to bring awareness to youth mental health issues. The Only Murders in the Building star, 29, teamed up with First Lady Jill Biden at the White House on Wednesday, May 18 to participate in the first-ever Youth Mental Health Action Forum. Looking fierce in a dark blue mini dress featuring a gilded neckline, the pop star/actress arrived in style and ready to get down to business.
Selena, who accentuated her mature look with a set of kitten heels and simple earrings, was seen arriving to the forum alongside Jill and a large group of peers. The First Lady kept her fashion icon status on point as well, as she dared to impress in a light blue blazer and white skirt.
“I felt like once I found out what was going on mentally, I found that there was more freedom for me to be OK with what I had,” Selena said at the event. “Bringing attention to mental health through media or just talking about your own journeys can help. It sets the example that it’s a topic that can and should be discussed freely and without shame.”
The star got emotional as she concluded, “Mental health is very personal for me and I hope that by using my platform to share my own story and working with incredible people like all of you I can help others feel less alone and find the help they need, which is honestly all I want.”
The event, organized by MTV Entertainment and the Department of Health and Human Services, also included policy adviser Susan Rice, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and a slew of activists and influencers. The two-day forum is striving to “drive culture from awareness to action on mental health through storytelling and media,” according to organizers, per The Hill.
The collaboration with the White House in discussing mental health is Selena’s second, as the “Same Old Love” hitmaker participated in a video interview with Vice-President Kamala Harris in 2020 to chat about her own experience with it. “I myself have shared my story about my mental health journey and I just read too much, I think, about how deep this country is being affected mentally,” Selena said at the time. “I’ve had so many dreams about creating places people can go to.”
Just a month before the Kamala video was shared to YouTube, Selena opened up about her mental health struggle, saying the hardest part is to ask for help. “As far as my career, I’m professional and I work very hard. At the same time, I do deal with mental health [issues] and I wanted that to also be known. In the beginning it seemed hopeless. Sometimes it was a challenge for me to even get out of bed,” she explained to People. “The one thing I’ve never stopped doing is asking for help. That was the hardest part, but I truly believe that that’s why I’m stronger. This is something that is the most important thing in the world to me ’cause it’s my mental health.”