Fans and the media have been pitting Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber against each other for years. While neither of them openly antagonized the other, netizens constantly posted vitriolic comments on their social media accounts.
But in an unexpected turn of events, both women silenced the haters with a photo of them hanging out at the star-studded Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles on Sunday night. This is their not-so-subtle way of saying that there’s no bad blood between them, despite what everyone else is saying.
Photographed by Tyrell Hampton, they didn’t just smile for the photo but also shared an embrace, essentially putting all the baseless rumors to rest. Hampton posted the shot on Instagram and captioned it simply with, “Plot twist.”
Credit: @tyrellhampton
Of course, that simple post sent the entire world into a frenzy.
It all started because of a boy.
It’s no secret where these talks of feud stemmed from. Hailey Bieber is married to Justin Bieber, who happens to be Selena’s ex-boyfriend.
For almost a decade, Selena and Justin dated on and off publicly. They first revealed their relationship to the public in February 2011. They broke up and got together again, and this cycle went on for years. The pair even dated other people during their ‘breaks.’ The couple finally split in March 2018.
Hailey was already friends with Justin, but it wasn’t until June 2018 that they reconnected after they bumped into each other at a conference in Miami. A month later, Justin proposed to Hailey, and they got married in September 2018 in a private courthouse ceremony.
Credit: @haileybieber
Since then, trolls have seemingly made it their life’s mission to attack Hailey Bieber on social media. Whether she did anything or not, she was constantly dragged by fans who continue to ship Selena with Justin.
Back in April, Hailey got fed up and posted a video on TikTok, which she said was for the people in the comment section each time she posted something.
“Leave me alone, at this point,” she begged. “I’m minding my business. I don’t do anything. I don’t say anything. Leave me alone, please.”
“Enough time has gone by where it’s valid to leave me alone,” she continued. “I beg of you, truly. That’s my only request. Leave me alone.”
Finally, a show of unity between Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber.
Credit: @tyrellhampton
The Academy of Museum Gala photo above follows Hailey’s semi-controversial interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast last month. She finally spoke up about speculations that she began dating Justin while he was still seeing Selena.
Hailey was asked by host Alex Cooper about how she felt when she was called a “home wrecker” by Selena’s fans.
Credit: Entertainment Tonight
“When him and I ever started, like, hooking up or, like, anything of that sort, he was not ever in a relationship, ever at any point,” the 25-year-old model clarified.
“It’s not my character to mess with someone’s relationship,” she added. “A lot of the hate, and the perpetuation, comes from the misperception, ‘Oh, you stole him.’ It comes from the fact that they wished he had ended up with someone else and that’s fine.”
Speaking about Selena, Hailey noted, “I respect her; there’s no drama personally.”
Hailey also revealed that she and Selena already had a conversation about it.
A few days later, Selena took to TikTok to set the record straight that she did not support any form of hate speech. She repeatedly asked her fans to be kind.
“I think some of the things that I don’t even need to be aware of are just vile and disgusting,” the musician said. “And it’s not fair, and no one ever should be spoken to in the manner that I’ve seen.”
This isn’t the first time Selena chastised her own fans. In 2019, she went live on Instagram and spoke at length about kindness.
“I do not stand for women tearing women down,” she told her viewers. “I will never, ever be by that. So please be kind to everyone. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, if you’re my fans don’t be rude to anybody, please.”
Spreading hate online is never okay.
Hailey has been the subject of so much harassment from trolls ever since Justin posted a photo of them in 2014. Unbelievably, some people continue to compare her to Selena. But even Selena has not been spared when it comes to online hate. She’s often accused of throwing shade at Hailey—one of which was a Get Ready with Me clip of Selena on TikTok where she allegedly mocked Hailey.
Credit: @selenagomez
This recent show of solidarity makes it clear that both women are not feuding and that there are no hard feelings. In fact, Hailey likes to show her support for Selena Gomez by liking photos of her—from magazine covers to posts by Selena’s friends.
Here’s hoping fans and the press will finally stop treating them as rivals.
