Francia Raisa Addresses Selena Gomez Feud Rumors

Francia Raisa is directly addressing the speculation. The 35-year-old actress spoke openly about the rumored conflict between herself and Selena Gomez on her How I Met Your Father co-star Josh Peck's Good Guys podcast. "Whenever I thought about my name being in the press, I never thought about it like this," Raisa said. "I always thought about it from an actor's perspective." She has been friends with Gomez for nearly 15 years, and in September 2017, Raisa donated her kidney to her friend, who needed a transplant due to lupus. "She and I went public with our situation years ago, and honestly, we had to. The press got a hold of the story, and we wanted to tell it," Raisa explained. "As for what's going on lately, does anyone prep you for this kind of stuff? Never. We never get prepped for this kind of stuff. It always catches me by surprise. I don't know if it's good or not." 

Raisa admitted to staying away from the comments section in the face of negative comments. "I can't read the comments because I don't do well with it. I really don't," Raisa said. "Sometimes I disappear because people are mean. People are so mean. They get you right there. Someone said, 'Oh, you're just looking for attention because your career's a flop.' I'm like, 'Is it a flop?'" She added, "No one forced me to do anything" regarding the kidney donation. "It came out of the genuine kindness of my heart." Adding to that, Raisa even leveraged the occasion to promote her new salsa company, saying, "You guys, there's no beef, there's salsa." Last month, Gomez's public birthday message to Raisa sparked renewed interest in the pair's friendship. "Happiest of birthdays to this special human being," Gomez wrote. "No matter where life takes us, I love you."

In the aftermath of the post, Gomez has reportedly been followed by Raisa again on Instagram. There was a public rift between the two last year when Gomez did not name Raisa as a "friend in the industry" in an interview with Rolling Stone, despite their extensive history and medical connection. "I never fit in with a cool group of girls that were celebrities. My only friend in the industry really is Taylor [Swift], so I remember feeling like I didn't belong," Gomez said. A specific segment of that quote, "My only friend in the industry really is Taylor [Swift]," was then shared on Instagram. Later, Raisa posted a now-deleted comment that read, "Interesting." One TikTok user shared a video detailing the drama, including Raisa not following Gomez on Instagram. Gomez responded in the comments section of the video. "Sorry I didn't mention every person I know," Gomez wrote.