Selena has been living with lupus, an autoimmune disease, for more than a decade. Over the years, she’s gotten candid about her experience with the chronic illness, from undergoing a kidney transplant and chemotherapy to how it’s impacted her mental health.
Ahead, here’s everything Selena has shared about her lupus diagnosis and health journey:While Selena may be the first person you think of with this health condition, 1.5 million Americans, and at least five million people worldwide, have a form of lupus, The Lupus Foundation of America estimates.
Selena was diagnosed with lupus in 2013.
In her October 2015 cover story with Billboard, Selena first revealed her lupus diagnosis. “I was diagnosed with lupus, and I’ve been through chemotherapy. That’s what my break was really about. I could’ve had a stroke,” she told the publication of her time spent out of the spotlight (which sparked rumors about her being admitted to a rehabilitation facility for addiction). “I wanted so badly to say, ‘You guys have no idea. I’m in chemotherapy… I locked myself away until I was confident and comfortable again.”