On the second episode of the recently launched Friends Keep Secrets podcast, Benny Blanco opened up about how he and his wife, Selena Gomez, help manage her bipolar disorder together.
On the podcast—which Blanco co-hosts with frequent collaborator Lil Dicky and his wife, Kristin Batalucco—the couple spoke about her mental health and how they’ve learned to better navigate when she experiences bipolar mania. At around the 14-minute point of the episode, Blanco asked her wife if she knew she was bipolar before she was officially diagnosed in 2020, and she said she believed that she was misdiagnosed in the past.
“Selena will have moments where she's having mania, and she doesn't know,” said Blanco. “She'll start to realize she's having it after it's happening. And sometimes she doesn't even remember when it's happening. And it's such a delicate thing because it's like, you can't really… You're not supposed to technically talk to the person really about it while they're deep in it. Even dating her, like, she's so hyper aware. She'll be like, ‘I think I'm feeling a little manic.’”
Gomez added that she’s “not ashamed” to admit that she experiences moments of mania, but she’s thankful she’s found a life partner who can help her deal with these more difficult moments. “I can catch them a bit quicker, but it is helpful to have a partner that will understand where maybe the temperature is at and meet you where you are,” she continued. “And then you kind of gradually understand what's happening.”
She also said that her diagnosis has helped her understand why she’s felt certain ways in the past. “One of my favorite parts about being with you, we take each other as we are, and I don’t feel uncomfortable going into her and being like, ‘I think I’m having a heart attack,” added Blanco. “Her coming to me and just being like, ‘I’m fully manic right now…’ We’re not judging each other at all.”
Watch the full episode of the podcast above.
