On Friday, just weeks after dethroning Kylie Jenner on Instagram, Selena Gomez became the first woman to have 400 million followers on the photo-based social media platform. Jenner isn’t too far behind with 382 million Insta fans, but Gomez is moving fast.
There are still two people with more followers than Gomez on Instagram, football players Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who have 562 followers and 442 million followers respectively.
Gomez has been the most-followed woman before, wearing the crown in 2019 before Ariana Grande and then Jenner claimed the title. Surprisingly, Gomez’s comeback comes amid his retirement from social media. She recently said vanity lounge she only has the TikTok app on her phone and has tried to set up “filters” to protect herself from trolls and hurtful comments.
“People can call me ugly or stupid and I’m like, whatever,” Gomez explained. “But these people are detailed. They write such specific and nasty paragraphs. I would cry constantly. I had constant anxiety… I couldn’t take it anymore. It was a waste of time. »
THE Only murders in the building The actress said social media made her feel “inundated with information” she didn’t want.
“I went through a tough time with a breakup and didn’t want to see any of the [feedback]— not necessarily about the relationship, but my opinions about [someone] otherwise,” she continued. “There would be thousands of really nice comments, but my mind goes straight to the bad guy…There are wonderful things about social media – connecting with fans, seeing how happy and excited they are and their stories But usually it’s filtered [for me now]. I created a system. Everything I do, I send it to my assistant who posts it. As for the feedback, my team will put together some encouraging things.
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. His first book, The lone hunter will be published by Dial Press in February 2022.
