Selena Gomez defends Hailey Bieber after she receives death threats: ‘This isn’t what I stand for’

Selena Gomez, left, is calling for her fans to stop directing hate at Hailey Bieber. (Photos: Getty Images)

Selena Gomez is defending Hailey Bieber amid their rumored feud.

On Friday, the Only Murders in the Building actress appealed to her fans on social media, saying the model has been “receiving death threats” and asking them to stop directing “hateful negativity” toward her.

“Hailey Bieber reached out to me and let me know that she has been receiving death threats and such hateful negativity,” Gomez wrote on Instagram.

She continued, “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.”

(Screenshot: Selena Gomez via Instagram)

For years now, there’s been drama between the two women — Justin Bieber’s ex-girlfriend and his wife. It stemmed from rumors that Hailey’s relationship with the pop star overlapped with Gomez’s. (Selena and Justin started dating in 2010, split in 2012, reunited in 2013, split in 2014 and got back together in late 2017 before splitting for good in early 2018. Justin dated Hailey from 2014 to 2016 and reunited in 2018, marrying months later.) Hailey denied any overlap in an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast in September. The following month, the women put on a united front, posing together at an event.

Just when we thought it was all behind us, like Justin’s drop crotch pants, earlier this year the drama started simmering again — and it’s largely a TikTok thing. In January, Hailey posted a video with her friends lip-syncing, “And I’m not saying she deserved it, but God’s timing is always right,” with fans speculating it was a pile-on after Gomez was body-shamed over vacation photos. Hailey denied she had ill intent.

The next month, Gomez posted about accidentally over-laminating her eyebrows. One day later, Kylie Jenner posted a video of herself — and Hailey — on FaceTime showing off their eyebrows with the words “this was an accident???” That was also interpreted as a dig at Gomez, but Jenner said she meant “no shade towards selena ever.” Gomez replied she was also a fan. Around that time, an old clip of Justin and Hailey making fun of Taylor Swift resurfaced and Gomez defended her best friend. At that point, Gomez announced she was taking a TikTok break, but before she did, she liked a few videos that called out Hailey’s alleged bullying.

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Gomez later returned to TikTok with a makeup tutorial. In the comments, she called for her fans to “please, please be kinder and consider others mental health. My heart has been heavy and I only want good for everyone. All my love.” However, the drama kept simmering. Some thought Justin was sending a message to Gomez with his birthday party favors (silver lighters inscribed with, “I’m so thankful that I didn’t end up with what I thought I wanted”). When he performed at Rolling Loud around that time, audience members chanted, “F*** Hailey Bieber.” Now, weeks later, there’s contact between the parties amid these death threats against Hailey.

In Hailey’s Call Her Daddy interview in September, she spoke of the vicious bullying by Gomez’s fans. Asked whether she or Justin had ever reached out to Gomez about intervening with her fans, and calling for a stop to the harassment, she said no.

“What I will say is that she has been in this industry much longer than I have and maybe there’s something that she knows — like it wouldn’t fix anything,” Hailey replied.

We’ll see if it will be fixed this time.