Selena Gomez gave NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro her most open interview ever (opens in new tab) about how she healed after a broken heart and how toxic her relationship with Justin Bieber was before it ended in spring 2018 Singer spoke for the first time about how he was a victim of psychological abuse when he was with Bieber. Bieber himself has previously admitted to having "abused" past relationships (opens in new tab).

Garcia-Navarro was the first to explicitly acknowledge to Gomez that Bieber was indeed the inspiration for "Lose You to Love Me." (Open in new tab)

Gomez began to talk about why the song meant so much to her: "I'm so proud," she said. This song means something different to me than when I wrote it. I felt like I didn't get the closure I deserved and I accepted that, but I know I needed a way to say some of the things I just wanted to say. It wasn't a hateful song, there was something beautiful about it and I'm not going to deny that. It was very difficult and I'm glad it's over. And this song, it's over now, and I understand that and I respect that.

"Saying goodbye to Justin Bieber, that's who you're talking about," Garcia-Navarro said.

"You had to put his name in there, I get it," Gomez admitted.

Garcia-Navarro asked if going through that relationship with Bieber was one of the most difficult things she had experienced in her life.

"No, because I found strength in it," Gomez said. 'It's dangerous to feel victimized. I feel like I'm a victim of some abuse."

"You mean psychological abuse? Garcia-Navarro asked. [Growing up, I had to find a way to understand it. And I had to understand my choices. I certainly don't want to spend the rest of my life talking about it, but I'm really proud to say that it's the strongest I've ever felt and I've found a way to walk through it as gracefully as possible."

Bieber did not comment to NPR on Gomez's claims. However, this August, he wrote on his Instagram (opens in new tab) about his past relationships before getting help for his problems stemming from abusing drugs and being a child star.

"I started doing drugs pretty heavily at 19 and abused all my relationships," he writes of his worst days. (Bieber was dating Gomez on and off when he was 19 (open in new tab)). ) "I became resentful, dismissive of women, and angry. I began to distance myself from all the people who loved me and went into my shell. I thought I would never recover. It took me years to recover from these terrible decisions, to repair my broken relationships, and to change my relationship habits."

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