Mandy Teefey tells Gossip Cop her daughter Selena Gomez is an “adult” and “can make her own choices.” Gossip Cop spoke with the “13 Reasons Why” producer in the wake of a number of untrue stories about mother and daughter in the tabloids.
For example, last month Gossip Cop busted OK! for wrongly claiming Gomez was living with her mom, who had supposedly enacted a curfew and banned Justin Bieber from their home. None of that was true. And just days ago, we debunked an In Touch tale falsely alleging Teefey was demanding Gomez get breathalyzer tests if she was going to date Bieber. That was bogus, too. Now we can shed some light on what’s really going on.
As is well known by now, Gomez underwent a kidney transplant last summer after close friend Francia Raisa offered to donate her organ. The star has suffered from Lupus for years, and as her mother tells Gossip Cop, “When you are young, you feel invincible and she had to learn that she was not able to be your typical 20 year old.” Teefey says they were “beyond blessed that we had Francia in our life,” and she recalls being a “wreck inside not only for my daughter, but for Francia and her family” during the time of the procedure. Teefey even jokes, “I am pretty sure I am banned from that hospital [now].”
Describing her daughter as “brave and fearless,” Teefey shares, “I was so proud of her bravery.” Teefey confirms that she did not speak with Bieber during Gomez’s medical ordeal. In fact, she maintains they haven’t talked, even via text, in “years.” She admits she is “not happy” with the on-and-off couple’s latest reunion, but acknowledges, “Selena can live her life however she wants as long as she is happy, safe and healthy.”
“Every mother and daughter has disagreements,” Teefey stresses, denying that a rift widened when she and her husband stopped managing Gomez’s career in 2014. “We never expected to manage her her whole life. We lost family time because the only time we saw her, we talked business,” she explains. “It was no longer fun for any of us, like it was when she was younger and we had to be with her because she was a minor.”
And now Teefey and Gomez are able to better balance their family relationship with their working one as they produce “13 Reasons Why” together. As for concerns that the renewed relationship with Bieber could affect Gomez’s well-being, Teefey insists, “She is 25 years old and knows what is at stake with her health. I do not control her the way it has been portrayed.” Teefy further tells Gossip Cop point-blank, “Selena is an adult and can make her own choices.”