Selena Marie Gomez was born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas, to Ricardo Joel Gomez and Texas-born former stage actress Mandy Teefey. She was named after Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla, who died in 1995.
Her father is of Mexican descent, while her mother, who was adopted, has Italian ancestry. Gomez’s paternal grandparents emigrated to Texas from Monterrey in the 1970s. Of her heritage, Gomez has said she is “a proud third-generation American-Mexican” and “My family does have quinceaneras, and we go to the communion church. We do everything that’s Catholic, but we don’t have anything traditional except to go the park and have barbecues on Sundays after church.”
Gomez was fluent in Spanish until age seven. Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and she remained with her mother. Gomez has two younger half-sisters and a younger stepbrother: Gracie Elliot Teefey, through Amanda and her second husband, Brian Teefey, and Victoria “Tori” and Marcus Gomez, through Ricardo and his second wife Sara.
Gomez was born when her mother was 16 years old. The family had financial troubles throughout Gomez’s childhood, with her mother struggling to provide for the pair.
Gomez had a close relationship with her grandparents as a child and appeared in various pageants. Her grandparents often took care of her while her parents finished their schooling, and she has said they “raised her” until she found success in show business.
Life wasn’t easy for her but she ended up being one of the top celebrities in the world. She has received numerous accolades and was named Billboard’s Woman of the Year in 2017, and she also broke 15 Guinness World Records. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.
Check out these beautiful childhood photos of actress/singer Selena Gomez.
