Home » Latest » Celebrity » 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Selena Gomez

20 Things You Didn’t Know About Selena Gomez

5

38 0 Celebrity

6.5

SaveSavedRemoved 3

Twenty years into showbiz and Selena Gomez still can’t shake her love of pickle juice or her Instagram crown.

Before she was topping the Billboard charts, Selena Gomez was a seven-year-old on a purple dinosaur’s TV set, learning her lines next to a kid named Demi Lovato. The path from there to becoming the first person ever to hit 100 million Instagram followers is longer and stranger than most fans realize. Here’s what’s actually true about the Texas-born star behind the name.

• Selena Marie Gomez was born July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas, and named after Tejano icon Selena Quintanilla-Pérez.
• She broke into acting at age seven as Gianna on Barney & Friends (2002–2004) alongside Demi Lovato, before landing her breakout role as Alex Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place (2007–2012).
• In September 2016, Gomez became the first person to surpass 100 million followers on Instagram.

From Barney to Waverly Place

Gomez’s first paycheck in the industry came courtesy of a giant purple dinosaur. She landed the role of Gianna on Barney & Friends at age seven, sharing the set with fellow future pop star Demi Lovato — a friendship, and eventually a rivalry narrative in the tabloids, that’s followed both women for nearly two decades. From there she picked up guest spots on Disney’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and a recurring gig playing pop rival Mikayla on Hannah Montana, before Disney Channel handed her the role that made her a household name: Alex Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place, which ran from 2007 to 2012.

Britney Spears and a Teen Choice Trophy

Gomez has never hidden who she’s studying. She’s said repeatedly that Britney Spears is her primary musical influence, and it shows in the pop instincts that carried her group, Selena Gomez & the Scene, to a 2012 Teen Choice Award for Choice Music: Love Song with “Love You Like a Love Song.” That win came during the same stretch where she was juggling a full Disney Channel schedule and building out a recording career most child stars never manage to sustain.

Youngest UNICEF Ambassador on Record

In 2009, at just 17 years old, Gomez became the youngest UNICEF Ambassador to date — a title that came with actual fieldwork, not just a photo op. She’s since taken part in multiple field missions aimed at raising awareness for vulnerable children around the world, work she’s kept up well into her adult career alongside the acting and music.

Pickles, Rescue Dogs, and a Record-Breaking Follower Count

Ask anyone who’s worked with Gomez and the pickle stories come up fast — she drinks pickle juice straight and has been known to top her popcorn with it and a splash of Tabasco. She’s also a committed rescue-dog owner, having adopted multiple dogs including Baylor and Chip. Her friendship with Taylor Swift has made headlines for years, the kind of celebrity bond that outlasts most, and her digital footprint backs up the hype: in September 2016, she became the first person on Instagram to cross 100 million followers.

By September 2016, Selena Gomez had done something no one else on Instagram had ever done: hit 100 million followers first.

That follower count alone tells you where Gomez’s career has landed — from a recurring Disney Channel villain to a name that moves the needle on social media before she’s even released new music. Her next act, a run of Spanish-language and English releases still in the works as of late 2016, is the one fans and label executives are watching closest.