Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber’s feud, explained

Athena transformed Arachne into a spider. Queen Elizabeth imprisoned her cousin Mary Queen of Scots in a castle and beheaded her. joan crawford about broke down Bette Davis’s back during filming What Ever Happened to Baby Jane,

Fights actually meant something. But if I tell you, for example, that Hailey Bieber’s friend Kylie Jenner posted a photo about eyebrows, and then have to further explain that it was a devastating attack on Selena Gomez, you’ll probably need some more context. May need it. However, I will explain it, because women’s stories matter,

The long and short of it is that Bieber (married to Justin, formerly Selena) hates Gomez. But the extremely photographed socialite, as well as celebrity daughter and wife Hailey, hasn’t actually said she hates Selena Gomez because her profession doesn’t allow for that kind of candidness. This, despite the fact that Hailey’s main job is to be extremely popular on social media, making money on the promise of being completely candid.

Hailey is bound by the rules of Hollywood social media, which are governed by two powerful decrees simultaneously first of all he is “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women” and another Hona: “I don’t support all women. Some of you bitches are so stupid.”

And so, to make the point, it looks like Hailey Bieber, aka Baldwin, has, in a twisted way, made fun of Selena Gomez’s eyebrows. In itself, this act seems like a small jab, but given the deeper story of their troubled relationship, it was much more than that.

Now famous people fight like this. not in traditional ways of saying something bad for pressOr ruin someone by all other identifiers except name, or intentionally I am not doing a film with anyone Even if both of you are on a show that is contractually obligated to air 22 episodes per season. No, it’s the Easter egging of the Hollywood controversy.

Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner say it wasn’t the case, but it looked like they were making fun of Selena Gomez’s eyebrows.

Just as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered World War I, the current Hailey-Selena war also has a starting point: late last month, Selena Gomez posted a TikTok About herself in which she expressed mild concern that her eyebrows were too laminated.

Eyebrows, the group of hairs that sit above our eyeballs, are usually harmless. brow lamination It is a cosmetic procedure in which the hair is set upwards to make them look thicker and fuller. Selena was concerned that her eyebrows were not laminated in a position that seemed fashionable – perhaps too vertical, perhaps not filled in enough, perhaps too hairy, only the Old Gods know.

Besties Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner.

Jason Lavreis/FilmMagic

About three hours after Selena’s TikTok, Kylie Jenner shared a screenshot of her and friend Hailey Bieber’s eyebrows, taken during a FaceTime call. If it were any other two women on the planet, the picture of their forehead hair would be strange.

But it was much more complex.

Selena dated Bieber’s husband Justin when Barack Obama was President of the United States. They Were together on and off from 2010 to March 2018First Hailey married Justin in September 2018, Since then, devotees have analyzed every possible moment in these women’s lives to confirm that they, Hailey for the most part, hate each other.

Fans have scrutinized every Instagram post for clues, reversed every song and shake for clues (including Selena’s, since Hailey doesn’t sing for a living), inspected every TikTok for signs and symbols. Is. They also flood the comments section of these ladies’ social media profiles, and prove their loyalty by fighting for their respective queens. As someone with a lot of Slack experience, this all sounds a little tired, but Selenators (fans of Selena Gomez) and Jellies (fans of the Justin and Hailey duo) call it devotion.

The back-and-forth ended when Hailey appeared in a comedy in 2022 podcast call her daddy and directly addressing the reality of his marriage (Justin didn’t cheat on Selena), aspects of his marriage (the bad one), and his relationship with Selena (saying they have no ill will toward each other ) addressed questions about.

but that armistice Couldn’t last.

Deep-eyed Selenators found one Post Hailey Bieber lip-syncs with her friends to the lyrics, “I’m not saying she deserved it, but I’m saying God’s timing is always right” at the same time as Selena Was gaining weight (reportedly this was a side effect of his weight) lupus medicine) became a flashpoint on the Internet. “I never comment on this type of thing but we were just having a girls night out and made a random TikTok for fun. This is not directed at anyone,” bieber wrote After being called out.

All of this finally brings us to the Kyle-Hailey eyebrow photo that surfaced just hours after Selena’s eyebrow TikTok.

Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift are friends.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartRadio/Turner

In-spite of this denied The kerfuffle revived the feud, with Jenner’s statement that the photo of her and Hailey’s hair was posted maliciously, and Selena’s assurance that she had a good relationship with Jenner.

And on the same day as eyebrow-mageddon, just hours after Selena and Kylie’s public peace, a six-year-old Hailey’s alleged video Secret abuse towards Taylor Swift resurfaces Selena will defend her bestie: “Sorry, my best friend is and always will be one of the best in the game,” Selena wrote.

For those engrossed in the mythology of these women, it was a testament to faith, a crystallized moment that meant everything up to that point was not mere imagination or fantasy, but proof that the world they saw was true. It is reality. The external world was, ultimately, reflecting a perceived but unseen interiority.

Excavation, speculation, investigation and archival research of videos, photos and TikTok has resumed to such an extent that Selena announced She was taking a break from social media. She deleted her TikTok entirely and reiterated that she is 30, too old to participate in this type of behavior.

Gomez going offline hasn’t stopped fans from storming out and fighting in the comments section of Hailey’s social media accounts, and investigations into the feud have doubled. Selenators want Hailey to show some kind of remorse remind hailey That she is not as famous as their favourite. Hailey’s fans want to show that Selena has always had something in mind for Hailey.

But despite the new wrinkles in this saga – jordan woodsKylie Jenner’s ex-girlfriend posted a video recommending lip liner from Selena Gomez’s makeup brand, Rare Beauty; fast food chain Whataburger Has also shown support for Selena (but no lip liner) – The Hailey-Selena feud is not about any kind of moving forward. There is no new information. Removing eyebrows, TikTok, even Whataburger – these things don’t matter. These women probably, appropriately, don’t like each other. And this cycle repeats itself until it finds you.

Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez are really all about the fans

The Hailey-Selena war raises many questions. Like: What does it mean to be a Hailey Bieber fan? Is this an appreciation of any existence? Is Hailey finding beauty in the way life is going?

After existential testing and intense Googling, I’m still unclear on the answer but I think one thing is very clear: No matter what anyone thinks about Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez, this feud is really about the fans.

This should come as no shock.

There’s a constant change happening, which is manifested in everything from the way we watch movies to the way we listen to music (particularly the music of Taylor Swift, a friend of Selena Gomez’s fame) to the Easter egg hunt. There’s this idea that you can consume things normally, but if you dig a little deeper, there’s some benefit, some kind of rewarding, secret understanding. The whole thing is less interesting than the little clues, symbols, and hints that make it up.

Celebrities and their feuds are subject to the same perspective, with an added layer of parasocial tendencies. How Hailey and Selena really feel about each other is less important than what their fans think they feel. And it doesn’t matter who is right or wrong in this fight because only the fans are the winners in this fight.

Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez say they don’t hate each other. This picture is from 2017.

Matt Winkelmayer/MG18/The Met Museum/Getty Images for Vogue

In a strange, roundabout way, the treasure hunt to prove this alleged war between the two has also become a useful popularity contest, at least for Selena Gomez. Gomez and her Rare Beauty makeup company have made millions in profit New followers on Instagram and TikTokPossibly from people who wanted to show their support or simply became aware that Selena Gomez also has a beauty line as a result of this well-publicized dustup. Selena has gone even further than Kylie As the most followed person on Instagram. Supporting one or the other signals identity, and this is the basis of the deep, dedicated fanaticism of stan culture.

As far as Hailey Bieber is concerned, I have to admit that hating your husband’s ex-wife is not a unique and terrible sin. Although I’ve never been married, I have to think that wishing bad for your spouse’s ex-wife is a completely natural, human reaction, especially when ex-wife fans will remind you, often forcefully, often daily, of his superiority. Selena on March 24, a month after her initial TikTok said in an Instagram story He Haley reached out Told him that he had received death threats. Selena urged her fans not to do so, saying that threatening Hailey “is not what I stand for” and “no one should have to experience hate or bullying.”

Petty social media posts, consequences and all, are, unfortunately, part of the 2023 experience — even though no one deserves death threats for being a mean girl. This incident serves as an object lesson in how unnecessary all this is. For Hailey Bieber, it might have been more liberating to just say “I don’t like my husband’s ex-wife” at the top of her lungs. Instead, she chose the TikTok version of a subtweet. It didn’t avoid hurting feelings, it didn’t avoid fan backlash, and it certainly didn’t avoid being tiresome. Something to think about before posting.

Update, March 24, 11:10am: This story was originally published on March 3 and has been updated with Selena Gomez’s Instagram story, which urges fans not to bully Hailey Bieber.