My Mind & Me: an honest and intimate portrayal of Selena Gomez’s life
My Mind & Me, a new documentary about Selena Gomez, is an intimate and raw look into the actor and musician's life
My Mind & Me, a new documentary about Selena Gomez, is an intimate and raw look into the actor and musician’s life as she deals with lupus, fame, and mental health. It spans over the course of six years and opens in the year 2019 with Gomez in Paris. Feeling tired and defeated, Gomez in a voiceover says, “I have to stop living like this. Why have I become so far from the Light? Everything I wished for I’ve had and done all of it, but it has killed me. Because there’s always Selena.”
We then jump to 2016. Gomez is backstage and upset. She fears that she hasn’t shredded her Disney Channel days behind her yet and that she will always be seen as a child. But more than anything, she fears she is a disappointment and can’t make it as a solo artist. During this time too, all anyone can talk about is her breakup with Justin Bieber. After going through 55 days of performances, her tour is canceled. It’s then revealed that Gomez is admitted into a psychiatric facility and is diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
It’s back to 2019 and Gomez is reflecting on her experience. “When I first got out, I didn’t know how I’d cope with my diagnosis. What if it happened again? What if the next time I didn’t come back? I needed to keep learning about it. I needed to take it day-by-day,” Gomez says. Then in 2018, Gomez is diagnosed with lupus, a long-term autoimmune disease.
It’s at this point that Gomez goes on a journey. She goes back to her hometown in Grand Prairie, Texas, and visits old neighbors and her childhood home. She likes to be reminded where she came from. From there, Gomez tries to piece herself back together and figure out who she truly is. It’s a vulnerable documentary that does not shy away from difficult and heavy conversations.
At times, Gomez is having fun with friends but then lashes out. She is messy, gets annoyed at doing press, and is over being a “product.” But that’s the point. Gomez is a human being who is trying to deal with living through some of the highest and lowest points of her life. It’s opening us up to what it’s like to have to perform for the outside world all while silently struggling. It’s a real portrayal of who Gomez is, flaws and all.
In talking about the documentary to Vogue, Gomez says, “I definitely want to go into hiding after this comes out. I had to separate myself from it and understand what I felt the movie was going to be for other people. So I’m kind of sacrificing myself. You know, I love my job, but at the end of the day, I do want to be impactful in some way. And if that’s by sharing a part of myself that isn’t necessarily pretty and put together, there are hopefully people that can look at that and think, Oh, maybe I feel this way, or, I didn’t know that you could get this kind of help.”
In a time where authenticity is often perceived as perfection, it’s refreshing to see Gomez being willing to show us everything about herself. It’s also an important reminder that, regardless of what you may think, you never know what someone is truly going through.
My Mind & Me is now streaming on AppleTV+.