Selena Gomez is pushing back against pressure to look like her younger self, revealing that people still want to “freeze her” in 2016 — but she insists, “It’s not gonna happen.”
While conversing with PEOPLE, the Rare Beauty founder opened up about embracing aging as she looks ahead to the next chapters of her life.
“Getting older has been so much fun. I’m not scared at all. I love getting older,” says Gomez, who’s receiving the inaugural Beauty Impact Award for her barrier-breaking mental health advocacy.
She added, “Yeah, things are going to change and things are going to sag, but you’re alive... I think age is just a number in many ways.”
Gomez’s sultry, smoky looks from a decade ago frequently resurface on social media, with Rare Beauty even tapping into the 2016 nostalgia trend earlier this year.
“I got to be honest, the 2016 throwbacks and all of it is so much fun, but people get really intense. I always make this joke where I think people want to freeze me in time to that period of my life,” she said.
The Only Murder In The Building star added, “I don’t know... maybe it was probably more interesting because I’m now chilling, which is great. But it was such a hectic period in my life... of course I had to rock a smoky eye. I was trying to be cool!”
“Now I do a smoky eye, and it just looks a little different,” she said.
Gomez mentioned, “I think people always want me to look the way I did, and that’s just not going to happen. Sometimes people don’t like the natural beauty look, but that’s kind of my whole identity now, is really connecting with just natural beauty.”
“My sister is so much cooler than me. She’s 13 and has more confidence than I do. She is actually so thrilled to try things, but she also knows she doesn’t need it,” the Calm Down singer noted.
Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty
To note, the Emmy-nominated actress launched Rare Beauty in 2020, pledging 1% of product sales to the Rare Impact Fund, which has since raised more than $30 million for youth mental health organizations.
