Selena Gomez

Hi, guys. How are you? So good to see you guys. Are you guys having a good night?

I have to say that it's such an honor to be here. It is. I'm so happy to be here. I'm like a nerd and brought my own speech.

But I hope it's okay that I take this opportunity to really just spend with you guys and tell you a little bit about my story. I'm not an activist. I haven't changed the world or led a campaign.

I'm here to just tell you my path so that you hopefully can take something away from it. Because I don't like being honest with, this is a truth, I don't like being honest with press and interviews. I like being honest with you directly, which is each and every one of you.

'Cause I feel like I can. And I'm just gonna start with the basics. So I'm 21, and my mom had my mom had me when she was 16, and I'm from Grand Prairie, Texas.

And she worked four jobs and completely dedicated her life into making mine better. So to me, she is the definition of a strong woman, and I love her so much because she's taught me those values so much. Thank you. I have been acting my entire life, and I have known since I was first on Barney.

You know that purple dinosaur that I hung out with? He's great. You guys are so motivating. I feel like I can say anything.

When I was 11. The point being is when I was 7, I wanted to be an actress, and I wanted to live my dream. And when I was 11, I had a casting director tell me that I wasn't strong enough to carry my own show.

And I'm sure all of you have been told that you don't have what it takes, and that you may not be good enough, and you don't have enough people supporting you. And you're being told all of these things when deep down it's all you wanna do. You wanna be a part of something great.

You wanna make something great. And it does more than knock the wind out of you. It crushes you when people try to tell you that you're not good enough, and it almost did for me.

But there was my mom next to me, stronger than ever. And she said the most important thing is to always trust in myself. If I have, if I'm doing something because I love it, I should do it because I love it, and I believe I can do it.

So she told me to keep going. Thank you. She told me, and she taught me, to turn the other cheek and let the credits, or and let the critics be critics, and let us just trust ourselves. So for me. Thank you.

Two years later, I got my own show. And the first thought, the first thought wasn't, "Oh, man, that girl when I was 11 said I wouldn't carry my own show, and I did." I mean, I thought about that for a little bit, but I thought about what my mom said.

My mom was like, "You have to trust yourself." And I realized if I didn't believe that I could do it, I wouldn't be able to be here. And I have. I'm gonna, I'm gonna say I live a very blessed life.

I have so much to be thankful for. And a lot of you are a big part of inspiring me because I don't think you get it, and maybe you're not told enough, but you inspire me to be better. And we should inspire each other to be better.

I'm surrounded by people who are supposed to guide me, and some of them have, and others haven't. They pressure me. There's so much pressure. You gotta be sexy.

You gotta be cute. You gotta be nice. You gotta be all these things.

And I'm sure you can all relate. You all have pressure that you have to deal with every day, I'm sure, with school, with work, with friends, with parents, with family. With parents, I know sometimes with mine.

They tell me what to wear, how to look, what I should say, how I should be. Until recently, I had given in to that pressure. I lost sight of who I was.

I listened to opinions of people. And I tried to change who I am because I thought that others would accept me for it. And I realized I don't know how to be anything but myself.

And all I really want you to know is that you are changing the world. I'm not changing the world. You're changing the world, and that's amazing.

Please just be kind to each other, and love and inspire people because let's do it. Let's do it. Let's change the game. Let's change the game.

The most important thing is that we learn, and we continue to learn from each other. Please stay true to yourself. Please just remain who you are, and know that we have each other's back.

All of us have each other's back. I'd be lying if I said that I've never tried to make myself better by giving in because I have. But I've learned from my actions.

And for all the things I've done, I'm proudest of that. I've learned from my mistakes. I want you to know what it's that I know what it's like.

Figuring out what types of friends you have, you are who you surround yourself with. So I just want to say I hope I can inspire each and every one of you to just trust yourselves and to love and to be loved. And thank you for allowing me to come up and ramble and talk to you guys because this is such a beautiful thing you're doing.

Be proud of yourselves. This is great.