Selena Gomez Believes ‘The Idol’ Character is Based on Her

Despite all the headlines, backlash, and scandal, HBO’s The Idol made it through its first season this month, releasing their finale on July 2. However, now the show created by and starring Canadian pop/R&B phenom The Weeknd is facing even more scrutiny, this time from someone who had a personal relationship with The Weeknd in the past.

On Monday (July 10), Daily Mail published an exclusive story that alleged The Idol‘s main character Jocelyn, played by Lily Rose-Depp, was based on famed actor and singer Selena Gomez. Although Gomez did not give direct quotes to Daily Mail, sources close to Gomez and her team gave insight into Gomez’s disapproving thoughts on the show.

“The similarities between Selena’s life and Jocelyn’s life are just uncanny,” the Daily Mail source claimed. “Being [that] she actually dated The Weeknd, it is even more creepy for her. Her real-life pain was used for entertainment value and that really irks her out.”

As noted above, Gomez and The Weeknd engaged in a romantic relationship in 2017, just after Gomez finished up a stint in a psychiatric facility in 2016. In the report Monday, Gomez’s team asserted to Daily Mail that aspects of her life such as her psychiatric visit were brought back to life through Jocelyn’s character, who was a child actor converted to a pop star just as Gomez was.

Additionally, Jocelyn’s character had similar tendencies to Gomez. These include her trademark habit of blowing kisses to fans, wanting to go topless for her album cover which Gomez did on her 2015 Revival album, canceling her tour due to a mental breakdown which Gomez did in 2016, and wearing a hospital bracelet in a music video which Gomez did in 2017.

“Everyone in her team who has known her for a very long time is dumbfounded by this, but at the end of the day Selena is going to do what she always does – rise above and move on,” the Gomez source told Daily Mail.

What lends more credence to this idea is that The Weeknd has used Gomez to motivate his art before, evident in his 2018 song “Call Out My Name,” which hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and now sits at 3x certified platinum by RIAA. In the song, The Weeknd says Gomez “wasted his time,” and recalls the internal debate he had about wanting to donate a kidney to Gomez if needed, as she received a transplant before dating him due to the effects of her lupus diagnosis in the early 2010s.

I almost cut a piece of myself for your life
Guess I was just another pit stop
‘Til you made up your mind
You just wasted my time

It’s unclear if The Idol will earn a second season, which actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph who played Jocelyn’s manager in the show claimed the cast is hoping for. But, if so, perhaps we may see even more Jocelyn-Gomez “coincidences” as the show progresses.

Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic