JoJo opens up about support from Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift during record label battle
Joanna "JoJo" Levesque is opening up about Selena Gomez's support during a difficult time in her life and career.
In an excerpt of her debut memoir, Over the Influence, shared exclusively with People magazine, JoJo got candid about her rollercoaster career, including the support she received from Gomez and another pop peer.
"For Galentine’s Day, Selena invited me to Taylor Swift’s house so we could all celebrate," JoJo wrote. "Taylor had this arts and crafts section set up where we took pictures of ourselves and slapped them on this cute questionnaire where we described our best qualities (and our worst ones), the things we were looking for in a guy, and the reasons why we were currently single. "
JoJo said she met Gomez through a mutual friend Francia Raisa, who famously donated a kidney to the "Wizards of Waverly Place" alum and the trio all started hanging out together.
Selena Gomez is now a billionairewith $1.3 billion net worth from Rare Beauty success
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'So sweet and complimentary': JoJo recalls hanging out with Taylor Swift
In 2016, JoJo released her first album in 10 years following a multi-year battle to be freed from her contract with Blackground Records. Later, in an essay forMotto, she told fans she "felt like a product" earlier in her career and "the president of my former label sat me down and told me that losing weight was 'about my health.'
JoJo recalled that Swift was "so sweet and complimentary" and said it seemed like pop music's biggest star was "excited" that Gomez brought her to the party, saying she thought the lawsuit was messed up.
"I don’t remember if she already knew what was going on from social media or if I’d told her about the situation, but she was — in no uncertain terms — letting me know she was on my side and believed in me," JoJo wrote in the book.
She continued: "I appreciated Taylor’s kind words, but I thought I could see in the eyes of everyone else at the party that they felt bad for me. Maybe they thought I was never going to get out of this limbo. Or that it was too late for me even if I did."
JoJo admits to feeling jealous of Selena
The "Leave (Get Out)" singer told readers that occasionally she'd feel jealous of Gomez but called her level of fame "overwhelming."
"She couldn’t go anywhere without security flanking her and fans mobbing her at every corner. It just seemed like there was no sense of freedom for her to explore the world and be wherever and whoever she wanted to be," JoJo penned in "Over the Influence," saying she "imagined that must be suffocating" for Gomez.