The rumors explode
Francia Raisa, the woman who literally saved Selena Gomez’s life by donating her kidney, is finally breaking her silence. She’s responding to swirling rumors of a fallout — and the hot topic: why she skipped Selena’s high-profile wedding.
All over social media and gossip pages, people have been whispering they’re feuding. Some speculated Raisa was upset by how Selena was treating her body after the transplant. Others claimed there was jealousy or hurt feelings. Raisa calls it all “nonsense.”
Why didn’t she attend Selena’s wedding?
When Selena Gomez married Benny Blanco, plenty of A-list stars were there:
- Taylor Swift
- Steve Martin & Martin Short
- Zoe Saldaña
- Paris & Nicky Hilton
- Ed Sheeran
But Raisa? She was nowhere on the guest list. The absence sparked rumors.
In a new interview — filmed in a bookstore setting — Raisa addressed this head on. She offered her good wishes to Selena, even switching into Spanish to express it. She said she’s happy for Selena’s new chapter (“she has a life”) and that she’s grateful she had the chance to help her.
She clarified: she didn’t skip the wedding as a slight. She said she’s not in the drama game.
‘It was never supposed to be anything more than a donation’
When pressed about the deeper meaning behind her kidney gift, Raisa emphasized that it was an act of saving a life — not forging an emotional tie.
She recalled the doctors’ warnings:
“It’s a donation… If you donate a dollar to a charity, you don’t call to see how they spent it.”
She used that analogy to say: she did something kind, with no strings attached. She said she’s grateful to be alive, and she feels she saved a life.
At one point she mentioned that donation might feel harder for women than men — though she didn’t give many details on that point.
Confronting the “anger” rumors
Some gossip columns claimed Raisa got upset with Selena over her post-transplant habits (e.g. smoking). Raisa snapped back: those stories are rumors, plain and simple.
“The things they’re asking me — nonsense,” she said. “There are too many rumors. I’ve never said anything.”
She claimed she hadn’t even seen those stories. She maintained that neither she nor Selena is publicly addressing them — “maybe one day we will.”
The surgery, the scars, the emotional toll
Raisa donated her kidney to Selena back in 2017, after Selena’s lupus diagnosis. Lupus can make someone’s immune system attack healthy organs — which makes kidney failure a danger.
The procedure itself nearly took Selena’s life. In interviews afterward, Raisa opened up about how difficult it was for both of them mentally. She quoted a social worker who warned that the recipient recovers faster — because she’s getting something she desperately needs — while the donor is losing a part of herself.
She admitted:
“It was hard… Selena and I both went through a depression.”
During one interview, Raisa lifted her shirt to show a scar, possibly from a C-section, and other smaller ones. She also revealed Selena has a large internal thigh scar from emergency surgery after an artery ruptured.
Raisa also said that Selena was the one who first told her she was a match. Not the doctors. That raised eyebrows among fans — some wondered whether Raisa felt pressure to agree.
The shifting friendship over the years
Over time, Selena and Raisa’s public relationship has seen ups and downs. In 2022, Selena said in Rolling Stone that her only real friend in the industry is Taylor Swift — and that she often felt out of place. That lit the gossip fire. Raisa briefly posted a cryptic comment in response, which Selena answered with an apology for not naming everyone she knows.
But in subsequent interviews, both tried to quell the drama. Selena once said in her docuseries Dear… that she’d “never, ever, ever be more in debt” to Raisa, and she called the kidney gift an act born of pure kindness. Raisa echoed that she was never forced — she truly wanted to help.
By late 2023, Raisa admitted they’d been distant. She said they hadn’t spoken much in six years, especially in the last year. But around her 35th birthday, they reconnected. She said: “We needed that time apart. When you come back together, you’re better people.”
In 2024, Raisa told E! News that their friendship can go silent for long stretches — but when they reconnect, it feels like no time has passed. She also mentioned she wasn’t necessarily close with Selena’s inner circle.
So what really happened?
We don’t know. No one does — including them. Raisa’s message is clear: she rejects the idea of a feud. She wants to move past rumors. She wants to honor what she did without drama.
Yes, she skipped the wedding — but that doesn’t mean war. Call it distance, space, or just life. But she’s not taking sides. She’s just telling her side.
FAQs About This Whole Saga
Q: Did Raisa ever publicly confirm tension with Selena?
A: No. She denied ever being angry or upset. She said rumors fueled by tabloids have no basis.
Q: Was she snubbed from the wedding on purpose?
A: She insists she wasn’t snubbing Selena. She said she never got involved in the wedding drama at all.
Q: Did the transplant impact their friendship?
A: Yes. The mental strain hit them both. Depression followed. Distance crept in. But Raisa frames it as natural, not malicious.
Q: Are they still friends now?
A: Raisa says yes. They’ve grown apart and back together. She claims there was never real “beef.”
Final Take
Francia Raisa is tired of the whispers. She’s tired of being cast as the villain in Selena Gomez’s narrative. She wants people to remember: she gave her kidney because she cared. Not because she wanted something in return.
She skipped the wedding. That’s a fact. But she isn’t fueling the feud. She’s just telling her truth — no filters, no gossip, no drama.
And for now — that might be enough.
