Selena Gomez Says She Won’t Let Fans’ Opinions of Benny Blanco Affect Her Relationship with Him

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published May 30, 2024

Selena Gomez is thriving professionally—she wept at the Cannes Film Festival this month when her film Emelia Pérez received a nine-minute standing ovation; she went on to win the Best Actress Award at the festival for her role as the film’s titular character.

And Gomez is also thriving personally. She’s in love with Benny Blanco, telling TIME in a cover story for the magazine that “he’s not going anywhere any time soon.”

In the same interview, Gomez opened up about sharing her relationship with Blanco with the public—and “grappling with fans’ reactions to their romance,” People reports.

“I know what people can do to people I love,” she said. “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.” She continued “It’s really impressive, and I just cherish every moment with him.”

Actress Selena Gomez, left, and actor Benny Blanco during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. — Gomez and Blanco will soon mark their one year anniversary as a couple.

But, Gomez clarified, as happy as she is, Blanco isn’t her only “source of happiness”: “I was alone for five years, and I got really used to it,” she said. “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.”

Gomez also opened up to TIME about her plans to adopt by age 35 if she hadn’t met anyone (Gomez is 31 currently) and said of her relationship with Blanco “It just happens when you least expect it.”

The two started dating almost a year ago (last June, to be specific, according to People) but had known one another since at least 2019, when they collaborated on the song “I Can’t Get Enough” with Tainy and J Balvin. “In the song’s music video, the pair even shared a sweet scene on an oversized bed, where he dressed as a plush bear and she wore pajamas,” People writes.

Last August, Gomez released the song “Single Soon,” which was produced by Blanco. They confirmed their relationship by the end of the year, and Gomez even commented about him on Instagram at the time that “He is my absolute everything in my heart.”

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco — Blanco told Stern that he sees building a family with Gomez in his future.

Blanco shares Gomez’s affection, telling Howard Stern in a recent interview that he sees both marriage and having children with her in his future.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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