Selena Gomez's mother, Mandy Teefey, is incredibly proud of her daughter. And why wouldn't she be? Gomez is an amazingly talented performer who has had a ton of success at a very young age. It's not just Gomez's career accomplishments that have Teefey gushing. It's the progress that she's made in her personal life and the break from the spotlight that Gomez took last year.
The two appeared together this weekend on the red carpet for the Los Angeles premiere of their new Netflix show 13 Reasons Why; the pair executive produced the show together. Teefey says that although she had a background in producing, this is the first time they've ever worked together creatively. Teefey had been Gomez's manager from the time her career took off as a child until 2014 when Gomez abruptly fired her parents as her managers to seek more professional representation. The conflict doesn't seem to have damaged their relationship.
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Chatting with Entertainment Tonight, Teefey talked up her daughter's gorgeous red carpet ensemble, courtesy of Oscar de la Renta. "She looks like the sun," Reefey said, referring to Gomez's shiny orange dress.
Gomez's dress wasn't the only thing that glowed; she seemed to radiate light in other ways, too. Teefey was quick to attribute her daughter's radiant appearance to the three months that Gomez took off last year. "I think it was actually [from] taking a break," she said. "You asked what it is [like] to feel like you're in this world, we're in a bubble. It's not a real world. You don't really realize it until you go out of this bubble and you're like, 'Oh, OK.'"
"Going out of the bubble" for Gomez looked like spending time in a rehab facility to take care of her mental health, and retreating from the spotlight for a while. When she returned, she made an incredibly moving speech at the American Music Awards, encouraging people to seek help if they need it. Teefey, who had Gomez when she was just 16 years old, cheered her daughter on the entire way.
She will come back stronger than ever. @selenagomez
— Mandy Teefey (@ItsMandyTeefey_) September 3, 2016
"...when she was becoming famous, I was like, 'Aren't you so shocked' and blah blah? It's not an arrogant thing, it's just your day to day, and that's what becomes your life," Teefey said of the reality of constantly being seen and recognized that comes with becoming a celebrity. "Then when you go home, or [when I] go to my husband's home in the Midwest, you're like, 'This isn't really real.' That 'all of this about me' and, you know, this lifestyle isn't real."