When Selena Gomez’s time as Alex Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place came to an end in 2012 after four seasons, the then 20-year-old’s focus shifted almost immediately toward establishing her post-Disney career. First came Spring Breakers that same year, then her debut solo album Stars Dance the following. All the while, she drifted apart from the on-set family she had spent four years with while filming the hit show. Now 30 and able to reflect on the years since, Gomez said letting those relationships slip away as one of her biggest mistakes.
“I think I slowly became kind of shamed. I felt ashamed of the decisions that I made,” Gomez told her Wizards co-stars Jennifer Stone and David DeLuise, who respectively played her best friend and father on the series, during an appearance on Wizards of Waverly Pod. “I didn’t want you guys to see me in the state that I was in, because A, you would have told me the truth, which terrifies me, and B, I didn’t want to let you down.”
Gomez recalled that when the show first started, she had little interest in gaining a whole new family from it. Her parents had divorced when she was only five, and her life outside of Texas was almost entirely centered around her work as a child star.
“At the beginning, I was like, ‘Well, I just don’t want a new family,’” she explained. “I felt like I bonded with everyone. Little did I know that I ended up with everyone I needed to be in my life. I think I felt safe, and that’s a really hard thing for me to feel. I know that you guys love me for me. There’s not really… You guys genuinely loved me, and that’s all I could have asked for, the unconditional trust and bond we had, I miss so much.”
Stone, who played the queen of camp Harper Finkle on Wizards, responded thoughtfully, wondering about her own role in the disintegration of their friendship.
“I appreciate you saying that, too,” she said. “Because to be perfectly blunt, there has been times where I’m like, ‘Did we stop being friends because I didn’t tell her what she wanted to hear?’ You know what I mean?”
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Gomez responded, “Of course, they’re all valid, and I appreciate you guys dearly. I love you so much in a way that I’ve never loved anybody else.”
Gomez is the first guest to be welcomed to Wizards of Waverly Pod since it premiered earlier this month. According to a report from Variety, the actress and singer plans to return for additional episodes.
