Selena Gomez Weighs In On ’13 Reasons Why’ Backlash

Selena Gomez is speaking out about controversial Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and how excited she is for the upcoming second season despite the heavy backlash over the show’s content.

During an appearance on The Morning Show on Monday, the “Hands To Myself” singer, who is one of the producers for 13 Reasons Why, said that she was “definitely overwhelmed with the reaction” she has recieved.

“We had the rights to the book for seven years, so we knew we wanted to do the book justice because it already had a following,” the 24-year-old said. “The content is complicated, it’s dark and it has moments that are honestly really hard to swallow.”

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She continued by saying: “I understood that we were going into something that is difficult, but these kids today are so exposed to things that I would never even comprehend when I was eight. I feel like if this is what we are going to talk about, we might as well do it in a way that’s going to be honest, it’s going to be real and it stays true to the book.”

Selena Gomez says that she believes that all of the conversation regarding the show is necessary because teenage suicide is a real problem in society.

“All the questions that came up and all the talk about it was all valid and I understand it,” Gomez said. “But I think with season two we’re going to actually answer a lot of those questions and a lot of resolution with the characters are going to come.”

In defense of the content, Selena said: “This is happening every day, so whether or not you wanted to see it, that’s what’s happening.”

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“I think that stuff is uncomfortable for people to talk about, but it is happening and hopefully it opened the door for people to actually accept what’s happening and actually go and change it, talk about it,” she said.

As for the second season, Selena Gomez said she is thrilled to see the new episodes come to life.

“I went to the writers’ room the other day and I felt like I was watching a movie because I was freaking out on where they’re going [with the season],” she said. “It’s actually really encouraging and empowering and so we’re going to take a little inspiration from the first and bring it into the second.”

This isn’t the first time that Selena has come to the defense of the Netflix series.

“We stayed very true to the book…what Jay Asher created was a beautifully tragic, complicated yet suspenseful story and I think that’s what we wanted to do,” she said while talking to Associated Press.

She continued by saying: “We wanted to do it justice and, yeah, [the backlash is] gonna come no matter what. It’s not an easy subject to talk about, but I’m very fortunate with how it’s doing. I’m overwhelmed, I’m very proud of it.”

Photo Credit: Twitter / @Fashionbyiaam, Twitter / @teenchoicedata