MUMBAI: Selena Gomez knows how much people are hurting nowadays and she wants to come to their aid in a big way, with a little help from a new friend.
The 28-year-old recalls her own mental health journey as she chats remotely with Democratic Senator and Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris in a video posted on the singer’s Instagram on Thursday, Oct. 29, less than a week before the 2020 U.S. election. During the talk, Harris says that she and Presidential Candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden are fighting to “hold onto the Affordable Care Act and expand it.”
“I myself have, you know, shared my story about my mental health journey and I just read too much, I think, about how deep that this country is being affected mentally,” Gomez replied. “I’ve had so many dreams about, you know, creating places that people could go to. I think there’s a part of me that wishes we had some sort of place that felt like, okay, maybe you just need to get help.”
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She added, “You know, it should be something that people can understand and break down, because I truly know that this is something that’s important and important to me.”
Gomez has been open about her health struggles. In 2018, the singer spent time in treatment centers to seek help for issues related to anxiety and depression. She was also hospitalized for conditions related to her autoimmune disease, lupus, and a kidney transplant she underwent in 2017.
Harris told Gomez, “We still have a lot of work to do, and it’s something I care deeply about and I look forward to working with you on it.”
Since 2014, four years after the Affordable Care Act was enacted, most individual and small group health insurance plans were required to cover mental health services. The law also dictates that all health insurance providers cannot deny medical coverage or increase premiums for patients with pre-existing conditions, including mental health ailments.
In their chat, Harris also said that Gomez has become “an incredible voice on the issue of lupus,” which “disproportionally affects women of color.” The senator also noted that her sister, Maya Harris, suffers from the disease herself.
On Oct. 22, Gomez announced on Instagram that she had voted for the first time.
She said during her chat with Harris, “As a citizen, as someone who truly truly cares about their country not voting is just not an option.”
