Selena Gomez has spoken openly throughout her career about living with lupus and other chronic health conditions, including a kidney transplant in 2017.
Recently, she shared with fans a side-effect of those illnesses. She won’t be able to carry her own child.
“I haven’t ever said this, but I unfortunately can’t carry my own children,” the “Only Murders in the Building” star said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “I have a lot of medical issues that would put my life and the baby’s in jeopardy. That was something I had to grieve for a while.”
Inspired by her mother, who was adopted, Gomez told Vanity Fair she is open to taking that path to start her family.
“I thought it would happen the way it happens for everyone,” the actress and singer told the magazine. “I’m in a much better place with that. I find it a blessing that there are wonderful people willing to do surrogacy or adoption, which are both huge possibilities for me.”
In addition to her kidney transplant, Gomez said went through chemotherapy to treat her lupus.
Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can cause inflammation and pain throughout the body, according to the Lupus Foundation of America. It most commonly affects the skin and joints, but can also target internal organs like the kidneys and the heart. Anyone can develop lupus, and women aged 15-44 are at a higher risk.
A healthy pregnancy is possible with lupus, according to the foundation, but the disease raises the risk of certain complications. At least one of the commonly used medications that treat lupus can cause birth defects.
Gomez told Vanity Fair she has made peace with this part of her life, saying, however, “It’s not necessarily the way I envisioned it.”
“It made me really thankful for the other outlets for people who are dying to be moms,” she told the magazine. “I’m one of those people.”
Gomez’s attitude reflects that of many women who have found themselves in a similar place.
“At the end of the day, I don’t care. It’ll be mine. It’ll be my baby,” she told Vanity Fair.
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