Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez

Ridgley Fenters

When it was announced that Justin Bieber was engaged to his now wife of four years Hailey Bieber, the internet exploded. Just a few months prior rumors spread of a sighting of Selena and Justin together alluding to them possibly getting back together. Everyone was rooting for them to finally get back together or even tie the knot after being together on again and off again throughout the 2010s. 

 

However, when Hailey was announced to be engaged to Justin she was immediately labeled a homewrecker, and the reason Selena and Justin broke up. When in reality that is not the case at      all. However, rumors and drama sell millions within mass media and pinning Hailey and Selena against each other had people coming back for more. 

 

Whenever Selena or Hailey had a major career achievement the rumors and drama would also resurface after a while. Especially in recent months when it was announced that Selena would be having a documentary with Apple Plus My Mind & me. 

 

Rumors that the documentary was Selenas’ point of view of the whole Hailey Bieber drama quickly hit Instagram and Tiktok, especially after Hailey was on the Call her Daddy podcast where she addressed the rumors. Bieber confirmed that these are just rumors, and she and Gomez have never had any drama. 

 

Even though Bieber explained this on the podcast, news outlets immediately released articles with headlines that were focused on Hailey Bieber addresses her drama with Gomez.

 

Society is very invested into the lives of celebrities, and media news outlets often focus on pinning female celebrities against each other because topics like these often create heavy public interest. 

 

“People are especially invested in celebrities’ lives partly because of this parasocial bond and partly maybe because of jealousy or the desire to have what they have,” said Kaila Arnett, junior sociology major. “Especially in the case of women in media, people hold them to a higher standard than their male counterparts; or even men with more power like in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. As she’s pointed out herself, ‘the scandal was named after me,’ while Bill Clinton faced a significantly smaller public backlash.” 

 

Kayla Verner, senior creative writing major, also agrees that people are heavily interested in the lives of specifically female celebrities. 

 

“I believe that people can get obsessive about the lives of celebrities, especially women,” Verner said. “Unfortunately, whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not, society has set a standard of how a woman/man should act, dress, and speak. If we take the time to think about it, the reference for this standard is, more often than not, the celebrity. This is where the obsessive nature can arise because of the peer pressure to be of the like.” 

 

“They’re objectified, and sexualized, and treated as entertainment. And because of that, they get pinned against each other to boost sales,” said Emma Grace Avery, junior art major. 

 

Selena Gomez’s new documentary is focused on her love for philanthropy and coming to terms with her bipolar disorder. Rather than focusing on these heavy topics, the media has focused more on her relationship with Francis Rania because Gomez unfollowed her on Instagram recently. In order to see a change in sexist headlines like this, there needs to be a dramatic change in the media.