Selena Gomez spoke out about her previous relationship with Justin Bieber, during which the singer and actress said she endured emotional abuse, while promoting her new album, “Rare.”

In an interview with NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro released on Sunday, the 27-year-old discussed growing up and moving on from the heartbreak she suffered when her relationship with Bieber ended in March 2018.

Because of Bieber and Gomez’s on-again, off-again romance throughout the previous decade, many of her fans believed that many of the lyrics in her song Lose You To Love Me were clear references to their relationship.

When asked about it, Selena said she was “very proud” of it and added, “I had something beautiful, and I would never deny that it wasn’t that. It was very difficult, and I’m happy it’s over. And I felt like this was a great way to just say, you know, it’s done, and I understand that, and I respect that, and now here I am stepping into a whole other chapter.”

“Saying goodbye to Justin Bieber, who I’m assuming you’re speaking about,” Garcia-Navarro explained.

“You had to get the name in, I get it,” Gomez responded.

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez dated between 2011 and 2018.
Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Garcia-Navarro then inquired as to whether Selena considers her relationship with Justin to be one of the most difficult times in her life. “No, because I’ve found the strength in it. It’s dangerous to stay in a victim mentality,” Gomez said. “And I’m not being disrespectful. I do feel I was a victim to certain abuse.”

When asked if she was alluding to emotional abuse, the 27-year-old singer replied, “Yes, and I think that it’s something that — I had to find a way to understand it as an adult. And I had to understand the choices I was making.”

Gomez continued: “As much as I definitely don’t want to spend the rest of my life talking about this, I am really proud that I can say I feel the strongest I’ve ever felt and I’ve found a way to just walk through it with as much grace as possible.”

Gomez and Bieber began dating in 2011, when she was 18 and he was 16. The two artists were last together in 2018. It is unclear when she suffered the alleged emotional abuse in the relationship.

When they split in April 2018, Bieber quickly restarted his relationship with his now-wife Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin) and proposed to her in July of that year.

The couple married twice, once in a private ceremony in September 2018 and again in a larger ceremony in September 2019.

In an honest Instagram post in September of last year, Bieber admitted to previously mistreating the women in his life.

“I started doing pretty heavy drugs at 19 and abused all of my relationships,” he wrote. “I became resentful, disrespectful to women, and angry. I became distant to everyone who loved me, and I was hiding behind a shell of a person that I had become.

“I felt like I could never turn it around. It’s taken me years to bounce back from all of these terrible decisions, fix broken relationships, and change relationship habits.”

When Gomez first released Lose You To Love Me in October, she issued a statement.

“This song was inspired by many things that have happened in my life since releasing my last album,” Gomez explained at the time. “I thought it was important to share the music, as I know many can relate to the fact that the road to self-discovery generally comes through the scars in one’s life.

“I want people to feel hope and to know you will come out the other side stronger and a better version of yourself.”