Selena Gomez defends Hailey Bieber amid death threat concerns, hateful negativity

MANILA, Philippines — Model Hailey Bieber has reached out to actress-singer Selena Gomez after the former claimed to have received death threats following a dramatic "feud" between the two were fueled by fans.

Briefly stepping out of another self-imposed social media break, Selena had written in a Story on her Instagram account that Hailey reached out to her after "receiving death threats and hateful negativity."

"This isn't what I stand for. No one should have to experience hate or bullying," Selena continued. "I've always advocated for kindness and really want this all to stop."

On her own Instagram account, Hailey expressed gratitude towards Selena with whom she has been discussing lately how to move past the issues involving them which have been "very hard for everyone involved and millions of people are seeing so much hate around this which is extremely harmful."

Hailey pointed out that things can be taken out of context and asked everyone to be more thoughtful of what people, including herself, say on social media.

"In the end, I believe love will always be bigger than hate and negativity, and there is always an opportunity to meet each other with more empathy and compassion," Hailey finished.

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Fans have been pitting the two women together ever since Hailey dated and married Selena's ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber.

The two put any bad blood rumors between them to rest after snapping photos together at the Academy Museum Gala last October 2022, but such discussions reemerged when Hailey posted a TikTok video with Kendall Jenner and Justine Skye that fans interpreted was a jab at Selena.

At the time of the video's upload, which was instantly deleted, Selena was receiving attention for paparazzi photos taken during a trip to Mexico.

Hailey assured that she was not making fun of Selena, "We were just having a girls' night and did a random TikTok sound for fun. It’s not directed at anyone," and Selena on her part said "It’s OK. I don’t let these things get me down. Be nice to everyone."

As a result of that and succeeding events involving Hailey and Kylie Jenner seemingly teasing Selena's eyebrows, Selena's Instagram follower count shot up to overtake Kylie's and make her the most-followed woman on Instagram, while Hailey's follower count dropped by nearly a million.

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