How best friend gave TV star the gift of life
Pop star reveals best friend donated kidney in secret op
HER disappearance from the limelight over the summer baffled her millions of fans, but now Selena Gomez has revealed that she had a secret kidney transplant.
The US pop star and actress said that her best friend, Francia Raisa, gave her the organ in the “ultimate gift and sacrifice”.
Gomez, 25, shared a picture of herself in a hospital bed next to actress and model Raisa, 29, also in a bed and hooked up to medical equipment.
Gomez has been open about her struggle with the autoimmune disease lupus.
But in the post to her 126 million Instagram followers she revealed that a transplant became the only option and that she owed everything to her “sis”.
Incredible
The former Disney child star wrote: “I’m very aware some of my fans had noticed I was laying low for part of the summer and questioning why I wasn’t promoting my new music, which I was extremely proud of.
“So I found out I needed to get a kidney transplant due to my lupus, and was recovering. It was what I needed to do for my overall health.”
The singer said that she was looking forward to sharing with her fans her “journey through these past several months as I have always wanted to do with you”.
She thanked her “family and incredible team of doctors” for their work before and after surgery. She added: “And finally, there aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa.
“She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed. I love you so much, sis.”
Gomez said that lupus “continues to be very misunderstood but progress is being made” and directed her fans to the Lupus Research Alliance website.
The singer, an ex of pop star Justin Bieber, has more Instagram followers than any other celebrity and has sold more than seven million albums and 22 million singles, and is worth £34million. She shot to fame as a Disney star – most notably the lead role of mischievous Alex Russo in the series Wizards Of Waverly Place.
Before that she landed her first TV role as one of the children in Barney & Friends and starred on the show between the ages of eight and 10. After leaving Wizards Of Waverly Place, she launched her pop career in 2012.
While Gomez did not give any details about when the operation took place, she appeared at a highprofile party at New York Fashion Week on Saturday.
And she was the picture of health when spotted filming on the New York set of Woody Allen’s latest project. Little is known about the movie, not even the title, apart from the stars – Gomez, Homeland actor Timothee Chalamet and Elle Fanning.