Selena Gomez celebrated her 31st birthday on Saturday with a heartfelt message to her fans and a request to donate to her mental health fund.
The singer and actress posted a photo of herself on Instagram, blowing out the candles on an S-shaped cake decorated with pink roses. She wore a pink t-shirt, hoop earrings and pearl necklaces, and styled her long brown hair in glossy curls.
In the caption, she expressed her gratitude for her life and her work with the Rare Impact Fund, a charity that she founded through her makeup brand Rare Beauty. The fund aims to provide access to mental health services and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.
“I am thankful for so much in my life and one of the things I am most thankful for is the work we’ve been able to do with the Rare Impact Fund through @Rarebeauty,” she wrote. “Because of YOU we’ve been able to raise awareness and increase access to mental health services for young people. This is my true passion in life.”
She then asked her followers to consider donating to the fund instead of getting her any gifts. “People keep asking me what I want for my birthday, and I tell everyone the same thing please do not get me anything but if you want to do something for my birthday, please donate to the Rare Impact Fund. If you have the means, consider donating to help us make a difference,” she added.
Gomez has been a vocal advocate for mental health awareness and has shared her own struggles with bipolar disorder. She revealed her diagnosis in April 2020 during a candid chat with Miley Cyrus on Instagram Live.
“Recently I went to one best mental hospitals in the world … And I discussed that after years of going through a lot of different things I realized that I was bipolar,” she said. “When I have more information, it actually helps me, it doesn’t scare me once I know it … When I finally said what I was going to say, I wanted to know everything about it and it took the fear away.”
