Selena Gomez’s “Shocking” Response To Her Kidney Donor Francia Raisa Being Snubbed

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Selena Gomez’s “Shocking” Response To Her Kidney Donor Francia Raisa Being Snubbed In Her New Documentary Has Sparked Backlash​

"As if the person who gave you their kidney is some random acquaintance."

Back in 2017, actor Francia Raisa donated her kidney to her close friend of 10 years, Selena Gomez.​

Selena had been diagnosed with lupus six years earlier, an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack healthy parts of itself.​

Prior to the transplant, the star had said that her own kidneys “were just done” due to lupus-related organ damage.​

Speaking on the Today Show after the surgery, Francia recalled: “[Selena] goes: ‘I don’t know what to do, the [donor wait] list is seven to 10 years long,’ and it just vomited out of me. I was like: ‘Of course I’ll get tested.”​

“I didn’t want to ask a single person in my life,” Selena said at the time. “The thought of asking somebody to do that was really difficult for me. She volunteered and did it.”​

The singer also said that it was “unbelievable” that Francia turned out to be a match.​

Selena revealed that she’d had the kidney transplant in September 2017, when she shared a sweet photo of herself and Francia holding hands in their hospital beds as they prepared for surgery.​

“There aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa,” Selena wrote at the time. “She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed. I love you so much sis.”​

The following year, Francia opened up about her experience of donating a kidney, where she revealed that she struggled a lot more in post-op recovery than Selena did.​

“It’s harder as the donor because we are losing something our body didn’t need to lose, so trying to recover from that and she’s gaining something her body needed,” she said on Harry Connick Jr.’s show Harry. “So she’s up and at it immediately and I had a hard time.”​

"I couldn’t get up without having someone help me. That was very humbling. I couldn’t take a shower by myself, I had to have someone help me because I couldn’t move,” Francia went on.​

But despite the grueling aftermath of the surgery, Francia didn’t express any regret at volunteering as she said that it had made her and Selena “family.”​

“It was a big surgery. She felt bad about even having me do that because we are just friends. I am not her family or anything. Well, I am now. She has my blood,” she said at the time.​

“She felt bad. We just wanted our families around and it was cool because now I have a big family. I lost my grandparents when I was younger… Her grandparents are my grandparents now and so I have this extension of a family and it’s been really amazing,” Francia added in the 2018 interview.​

So when Selena’s new Apple TV+ documentary My Mind And Me came out on Friday, people were surprised by the star’s passing comment about her industry friendships.​

“I never fit in with a cool group of girls that were celebrities,” Selena said in one scene. “My only friend in the industry really is Taylor [Swift].”​

Francia wasn’t mentioned at all in the 95-minute film.​

E! News posted Selena’s quote to their Instagram page on Saturday, and Francia responded by commenting: “Interesting.”​

She quickly deleted the comment, but unfollowed Selena on social media.​

At the time, some rushed to Selena’s defense as they pointed out that Francia is an actor and theorized that she’d been specifically speaking about the music industry in her documentary.​

“Selena gomez said that her only friend in music industry is taylor swift. francia raisa isn’t in music industry apparently so why get mad like that? selena said many times that she sees francia as her sister,” one person tweeted.​

Another agreed: “Selena sees francia as her own sister so why would she say francia is her only industry friend?? also i believe selena was talking about the music industry not hollywood in general.”​

But when somebody made a TikTok video about the apparent Francia snub on Sunday, Selena fueled backlash by commenting: “Sorry I didn’t mention every person I know.”​