Selena Gomez reveals she’s unable to carry her own children

Selena Gomez is opening up about her desire for motherhood, sharing in a candid new interview that she is unable to carry children.

“I haven’t ever said this, but I unfortunately can’t carry my own children,” the actress, 32, told Vanity Fair in a profile published Monday. “I have a lot of medical issues that would put my life and the baby’s in jeopardy. That was something I had to grieve for a while.”

Gomez was diagnosed with lupus in 2013 and later received a kidney transplant due to complications from the disease. She’s also been vocal about her bipolar disorder diagnosis, sharing in 2022 that she takes medication for the disorder that could affect her ability to carry children.

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“It’s not necessarily the way I envisioned it,” she told VF, noting that she remains hopeful about other avenues for motherhood, including adoption. (After all, her mother, she also shared, was adopted.) “I thought it would happen the way it happens for everyone,” she said. “But I’m in a much better place with that. I find it a blessing that there are wonderful people willing to do surrogacy or adoption, which are both huge possibilities for me.”

“It made me really thankful for the other outlets for people who are dying to be moms,” the Only Murders in the Building star added. “I’m one of those people. I’m excited for what that journey will look like, but it’ll look a little different. At the end of the day, I don’t care. It’ll be mine. It’ll be my baby.” Gomez, who calls family “the most important thing to me,” hopes to start her own by the age of 35.

Before then, though, the star will be heading to the upcoming 2024 Emmys with her Only Murders family after scoring her first-ever acting nomination for her role as Mabel. The hit whodunnit earned 21 nominations overall at the ceremony, including nods for stars Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Meryl Streep. There’s also Oscar buzz surrounding Gomez’s role in the upcoming Emilia Pérez, which made a splash at its Cannes Film Festival world premiere earlier this year and was recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.