With Selena Gomez‘s, Rare (2020), displacing Roddy Ricch from the top spot on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart this past week, the 27-year-old should be celebrating the success of her first solo album in five years since 2015’s Revival. However, that might not be the case as the “Same Old Love” recently sat down with NPR to discuss the creative process and inspiration behind her latest musical offering. Unfortunately, some of the aspects behind her artistry were inspired by the emotional abuse she suffered in her past relationship with pop phenom and ex-boyfriend, Justin Bieber. 

When discussing Gomez’s lead single, “Lose You To Love Me,” the interviewer eluded to the fact that Justin Bieber was the inspiration to the song, leading to Selena Gomez dropping a bombshell revelation about the couple’s relationship that came to an end in March 2018. Gomez revealed that during their stint together, the “Yummy” singer was emotionally abusive towards her. An excerpt from the interview reads:

“Interviewer: “Lose You To Love Me” is your first No. 1 song off this album — tell me about this song.

Gomez: I’m very proud of it. It has a different meaning to me now from when I wrote it. I felt I didn’t get a respectful closure, and I had accepted that, but I know I needed some way to just say a few things that I wish I had said. It’s not a hateful song; it’s a song that is saying — I had something beautiful and I would never deny that it wasn’t that. It was very difficult and I’m happy it’s over. And I felt like this was a great way to just say, you know, it’s done, and I understand that, and I respect that, and now here I am stepping into a whole other chapter.

Interviewer: Saying goodbye to Justin Bieber, who I’m assuming you’re speaking about.

Gomez: You had to get the name in, I get it.

Interviewer: Do you look back on that time, and when you think about the parts of your life that were painful, that you’ve kind of moved on from, is that one of the harder parts?

Gomez: No, because I’ve found the strength in it. It’s dangerous to stay in a victim mentality. And I’m not being disrespectful, I do feel I was a victim to certain abuse —

Interviewer: You mean emotional abuse?

Gomez: Yes, and I think that it’s something that — I had to find a way to understand it as an adult. And I had to understand the choices I was making. As much as I definitely don’t want to spend the rest of my life talking about this, I am really proud that I can say I feel the strongest I’ve ever felt and I’ve found a way to just walk through it with as much grace as possible.”

While some personalities within the culture believe that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez conspired to remove Roddy Ricch from the Billboard throne, this discovery of emotional abuse in the Bieber/Gomez relationship might put those rumors to rest. Check out the full interview where Selena Gomez and NPR discuss her latest LP, Rare, mental health, Justin Bieber, and more below.