29 May: Selena is the cover girl of the latest issue of TIME Magazine

Selena Gomez graces the cover of the latest issue of TIME Magazine as she talks dating, possibility of touring, and being a businesswoman.

Full photoshoot in HQ: gallery.armyofselenagomez.com

Rare Beauty, not yet four years old, is a top seller at Sephora and available in 36 countries, according to the company. After launching in 2020, annual sales grew 100% from 2021 to 2022, and 200% the following year; they hit $400 million for the 12 months ending in May.

Gomez and her team are managing to sell millions of dollars worth of product while also promoting the idea that no one needs makeup. “I hope I don’t, and I hope Rare Beauty doesn’t, give off the vibe that you have to do anything,” she says. I ask what she makes of a common double standard, how people can be judged for leaving imperfections uncovered, but also deemed insecure if they wear too much makeup. She points out that she’s gone nearly barefaced today, wearing only some under-eye brightener. “I think it’s bullsh-t,” she says. “If you want my opinion on that.”

She says now that she’s “50-50” on whether she’ll ever go on a major tour again. “Nothing makes me happier than 90 minutes of being with my fans and just celebrating together,” she says. On the other hand, “It is very emotionally draining for me. And then you realize you’re just surrounded by a bunch of people that you’re paying.”

An assistant maintained her accounts for four years. She’s back to posting most of her content herself now, which includes promo for Rare Beauty and her film and TV projects, but she tries not to linger on the apps. And she’s deliberate about who she chooses to spend her time with IRL. “It’s a cliché, but girls are mean,” she says. “It’s a very weird competition, being in the cool girls area—and then I’m just kind of like, there. I don’t know where I’m meant to belong.” Her best friends are a real estate agent, a producer, and a casting director, she says. “I love having levelheaded people around that couldn’t give two f-cks about what I do.”

Gomez says. “I was alone for five years, and I got really used to it. A lot of people are afraid of being alone and I probably tortured myself in my head for like two years being alone, and then I kind of accepted it. Then I came up with my plan, which was I was going to adopt at 35 if I had not met anyone.” Enter Blanco, who Gomez says she’d first thought of as a friend—she even asked him if he knew anyone he could set her up with. But when he brought her to meet his friend at a birthday party, she realized she liked him. “It just happens when you least expect it,” she says.

Blanco recently told Howard Stern he wants to marry and have kids with Gomez. She laughs when I bring it up: “He can’t lie to save his life. If he’s asked a question, he’ll answer it.” She, on the other hand, has a lifetime of experience that has taught her to be more cautious. “I know what people can do to people I love. My own fans, who I adore and feel like have shaped who I am, will say the most hurtful things to me about how I live my life. But he has the strength in him that none of that noise fazes him. It’s really impressive, and I just cherish every moment with him. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that he’s not going anywhere any time soon.”

She responds with a story about a boy she met during a hospital visit when she was 18. He wouldn’t look her in the eye until she shared that she, too, suffered from lupus. “It was so sweet,” she says. “In a weird way, I turned the bad things into a good thing.”

“You don’t feel real sometimes,” Gomez says, continuing on. Half a block later, the guy is gone, and she’s back to observing the people on the street, rather than the other way around. New York is a place where a person can move freely, she notes. She can envision her 10-year-old sister being happy here, like the kids she sees walking themselves to school. “They’re completely fine on their own. They have an ownership—you have to own your life, you have to make a way for yourself,” Gomez says. “I kind of appreciate the realness.”

Read the full article: time.com