Hailey Bieber has had enough with rumors of strife between her and Selena Gomez, and she’s speaking out about it. Bieber, of course, is married to Justin Bieber; Gomez and Bieber once dated, as well. Of the (nonexistent) feud, People reports, Bieber said that it is “completely made up and twisted” and left no doubt as to her feelings about it: “I hate it,” she said.
Appearing on Bloomberg’s The Circuit, host Emily Chang didn’t use Gomez’s name directly, but clips of news stories mentioning both women appeared on screen. “I don’t think that this is about me, Hailey Bieber, and Selena Gomez,” Bieber said. “This is not about this pitting between two women—it’s about the vile, disgusting hatred that can come from completely made up and twisted and perpetuated narratives that can be really dangerous.”
She continued “And I think that it’s an opportunity to really stand for bringing people together and not being okay with the kind of division that it caused, because I’m not okay with [it],” Bieber said. “I don’t like this whole idea of team this person and team this person—I want to be able to bring people together and I think that it was a really important moment for people to see that you can do that, and it doesn’t have to be about this whole divisive nature.”
Chang added that the story is a “frustrating old narrative” of two women pitted against each other “because of a man.”
“I hate it,” Bieber agreed, adding “I’ve hated it since the beginning, and it goes back to being misunderstood. Time and time again I say there is no issue, and it’s so disappointing that people still behave this way over a man.”
Referring to her business, Rhode, “I don’t want silly made up drama to affect what I’m focusing and working on,” she said. “There’s narratives that exist for me that really hurt my feelings and make me really upset.” On social media, Bieber called YouTube a “really embracing and positive space” whereas TikTok is “nasty” and “negative.”
Back in March, Gomez herself addressed the Bieber feud rumors on Instagram, writing “Hailey Bieber reached out to me and let me know that she has been receiving death threats and such hateful negativity. This isn’t what I stand for. No one should have to experience hate or bullying. I’ve always advocated for kindness and really want this all to stop.”
Later that day, Bieber posted her own story, writing “I want to thank Selena for speaking out, as [she] and I have been discussing the last few weeks how to move past this ongoing narrative between her and [me]. The last few weeks have been very hard for everyone involved and millions of people are seeing so much hate around this, which is extremely harmful. While social media is an incredible way to connect and build community, moments like this only create extreme division instead of bringing people together.”