Selena Gomez Opens up About Her 2018 Met Gala Self-Tanning Wardrobe Malfunction

Selena Gomez shares the inside story behind her 2018 Met Gala self-tanning wardrobe malfunction. The Hotel Transylvania star shared some of her “Beauty Secrets” with Vogue, detailing her night-out makeup routine just one week ahead of the 2021 Met Gala. “For the Met Gala, I was getting ready and we wanted to add some color. So [I] put on some of this tanning lotion and it looked really beautiful and very even,” the Rare Beauty found explained, recalling the infamous night three years ago. “As the evening kept going on it was getting a little darker and darker.”

She continued, sharing that she didn’t realize her tan was getting darker at the moment due to the beauty of the overall event. “I’m at the Met Gala — basically one of the most prestige, beautiful events, and I’m walking trying to look all beautiful,” she said. The actress explained that she was too busy trying to pose on the famous Met Gala stairs to pay attention to her rapidly darkening skin tone. 

Gomez didn’t get a chance to really look at what was going on until she’d finally made it inside and sat down at her table. “I look at a photo of myself when I sit down and I am completely orange,” she said with a chuckle. “I was like, ‘This is going to be terrible because I’m going to get eaten alive about this.’” But, she had a good spirit about the whole incident. Instead of waiting for the onslaught of tweets and comments, Gomez joined in on the fun. “So I had my security take a video of me because my first reaction was just to get the hell out of there,” she described. “And so I’m running to my car. I’m literally just hauling ass to my car and then gonna put it online. I was saying this is my reaction after seeing my Met Gala photos.” She captioned the post saying, “Me when I saw my pictures from MET.”