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Somehow the Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber discourse continues to dominate headlines and TikTok feeds in 2023.
Fans of the 30-year-old pop star and the 26-year-old model have been going to battle for their faves since 2018 when news broke that Justin Bieber had proposed to Hailey Baldwin just six months after his final breakup with Selena. For more on Justin and Selena’s history, you can click here.
What began as accusations that Hailey “stole” Justin from Gomez quickly spiraled out of control as social media users picked apart every post made by these grown women in search of proof of their feud or of Hailey Baldwin’s alleged obsession with Jelena. No matter what either woman did to shut down the online hate—including posing together at an event in October 2022—fans continued to speculate for years.
However, the drama between Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez reached a boiling point in February 2023 when Kylie Jenner seemingly joined the fray. Here’s a complete timeline of what went down on TikTok—and everything that came next.
February 22, 2023: Selena Gomez overtakes Kylie Jenner as the most followed woman on Instagram.
TikTok user @devotedly.yours then posts a theory that the 25-year-old reality star made fun of Selena Gomez on Instagram Stories with a little help from Hailey Beiber. Basically, three hours after Gomez posted a TikTok saying she’d accidentally overlaminated her eyebrows, Jenner posted a photo of her own face with text reading, “This was an accident???” She then posted a FaceTime screenshot with Beiber that focused on their eyebrows. The TikTok user claimed in her video that this was casting shade at Gomez. If this sounds stupid to you, trust that it felt just as cringe to type out.
“This is reaching,” Kylie replied to the video directly. “No shade towards Selena ever and I didn’t see her eyebrow posts! U guys are making something out of nothing. This is silly.”
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February 23, 2023: Gomez enters the chat to shut down feud rumors. “It’s all unnecessary,” she replied to Jenner’s comment. “I’m a fan of Kylie!”
However, that didn’t stop Gomez from making another comment that supports the feud rumors. On February 23, she replied to post that described Taylor Swift as a “mean girl” and a “bully.”
The post in question featured a resurfaced video from 2017, in which Bieber made a gagging motion when Taylor Swift was mentioned during the televised rap battle Drop the Mic. Gomez defended Swift, replying to the post: “So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game.”
After fans took note of her comments, Selena then announced her decision to quit TikTok altogether. “I’m going to be taking a second from social media because this is a little silly,” she said in a TikTok Live, per People. “I’m 30 and am too old for this. But I love you so much and I’ll see you guys sooner than later. I’m just gonna take a break from everything.”
February 27, 2023: Fans accuse Beiber of shading Gomez again by using the song “Calm Down” by Rema in an Instagram story. Fans feel she purposefully chose the song because it featured Selena Gomez, even though Hailey Beiber did not include Gomez’s vocals. However, as Buzzfeed points out, Beiber was sharing a story from the account of her skincare brand, Rhode, and may not have chosen the song at all.
March 1, 2022: Hailey’s birthday tribute to Justin Beiber is flooded with negative comments by Gomez fans. As one user replied, “I’m surprised she didn’t turn the comments off.”
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According to BuzzFeed, Hailey Beiber has lost around 1 million followers since the TikTok drama began. Meanwhile, Elle.com reports that Gomez gained 10.5 million followers on Instagram and Jenner has lost around 500,000 followers.
March 2, 2023: According to People, Jenner’s ex-best friend Jordyn Woods applied a Rare Beauty product in a since expired Snapchat video with the caption “Love this lip liner.” Rare Beauty, of course, is owned by Selena Gomez, while Jenner’s own company, Kylie Cosmetics, is known for its lip kits. Fans think this was Woods’s way of picking a side.
Meanwhile, Selena Gomez goes fishing.
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March 4, 2023: Justin Bieber fans think he looks unhappy with his wife in Instagram photos from his birthday.
Over on TikTok, Selena Gomez shares a soothing makeup tutorial after claiming she was quitting the app. Per Page Six, Gomez added in the comments, “Thank you and love you all so much. I’m deeply grateful for each and every one of you humans. You make me unbelievably happy.”
She followed up with a second comment: “Please, please be kinder and consider others’ mental health,” she wrote. “My heart has been heavy and I only want good for everyone.” Both comments have since been deleted, according to Page Six.
I thought Selena was quitting TikTok? Or did she mean quiet quitting?
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March 4, 2023: Justin Bieber enters the chat. Maybe.
Justin’s close friend and music video director Alfredo Flores shares a picture of a party favor—an engraved silver lighter shaped like a cowboy hat—from the singer’s 29th birthday bash last week. Each lighter was inscribed with the words: “I’m so thankful that I didn’t end up with what I thought I wanted.”
The cryptic message has fans on Twitter scrambling to work out what it really means. A popular theory suggests that the words are a diss to both Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber—that he couldn’t get Gomez, so he settled for Hailey. One Twitter user commented: “Admitting that your wife was your second choice on your birthday is crazy lmao selena truly lives in his mind rent free.”
Others believe that the party favor isn’t about the feud but rather a way for Bieber to acknowledge how he made it to where he is now. “Can’t believe people are interpreting this negatively. justin is saying he’s grateful for the life he has as is,” reads another tweet. Furthermore, the lighter is not actually personally engraved, but rather sold by the brand Twojeys. The Biebers haven’t made any comment on the novelty lighter, nor has Gomez—yet.
March 15, 2023: If you’re wondering how Justin Bieber feels about all of this back and forth between fans of the women he’s been romantically connected to, I have bad news. According to Entertainment Tonight’s unnamed source, both Justin and Hailey are purposely staying out of the drama.
“Hailey and Justin are doing fine. They don’t want to continually deal with this repetitive, ongoing former relationship drama,” the source said on March 14. “They are just taking things day by day and don’t want this to be something that impacts them negatively. Justin knows that speaking publicly about it will only amplify the situation and bring more attention to it, so they have been supporting each other privately.”
March 24, 2023: Selena Gomez asks fans to stop harassing Hailey Bieber, once and for all.
In an Instagram Stories post made early on March 24, Gomez wrote: “Hailey Bieber reached out to me and and let me know that she has been receiving death threats and such hateful negativity. This isn’t what I stand for. No one should have to experience hate or bullying. I’ve always advocated for kindness and really want this all to stop.” She concluded the message with a red heart emoji.
This post will (probably) be updated.
