Selena Gomez’s mom, Mandy Teefey, is the living definition of strength. As People reports, she gave birth to Gomez at just 16 years old and was determined to give her child a better upbringing than her own.
“I was a teen mom with Selena, obviously, and was very judged by that, even by my counselors and my teachers [who said] that I failed and just let go of it,” Teefey told Entertainment Tonight in 2017. “...My neighborhood was a really rough neighborhood [with] gangs. With all of that stuff, and when I got pregnant, I think that’s what triggered [me], because I was like, ‘Okay, I have another person depending on me. I gotta get straight,’ and that’s when I started hammering through.”
For Teefey—one of Glamour’s 2024 Women of the Year alongside a few other very famous mothers—“hammering through” in part meant appearing in music videos, commercials, and theater shows around Grand Prairie, Texas, where she raised Gomez. That’s where she could grab some extra cash—and also, accidentally, where Gomez caught the acting bug.
“She went to one of my rehearsals with me and sat through the whole thing, not moving. On the way home, she was quiet, and then she goes, ‘You know, Mom, that might be funnier if you did it this way.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, no. She’s going to be an actor,’” Teefey told The New York Times in 2017.
Tina Knowles, Donna Kelce, Maggie Baird, and Mandy Teefey talk motherhood, stardom, ambition, and what’s next.
Cut to more than two decades later: Gomez is more than just an actor. She’s a cultural phenomenon with albums, films, TV shows, and a billion-dollar beauty brand to her name. Gomez knows she couldn’t have gotten here without her mama.
“When I started working, my mom was the person in my life that helped guide me through most of that,” Gomez told Time a few years back. “Everything that I am has kind of become a little bit of what my mom has gone through. She had the ability to make me feel like I was still capable of doing anything I wanted."
Together, Selena Gomez and Mandy Teefey have become quite the Hollywood duo, producing projects like The Broken Hearts Gallery and 13 Reasons Why. They also cofounded the mental health organization Wondermind. But their number-one priority is being mother and daughter to each other. “A mom’s love for their children is pretty fierce,” Teefey wrote on Instagram back in 2017, per People.
And Gomez’s love for Teefey is just as fierce, as the moments below show.
Gomez says she owes her life to Teefey.
That’s how she captioned a May 2019 Instagram post featuring a throwback picture of young Teefey holding baby Gomez. In a similar post the next year, Gomez wrote to Teefey, “I love this woman more than anyone could ever know.. happy mommas day!”
She’s also so proud of her mom.
“My mom has just walked through so much in her life,” Gomez said on SiriusXM in 2022. “I’m proud of her. She’s just done so much and she’s really wonderful and she’s just raised me to want to be a good person and do a good job and be kind.”
Gomez says Teefey is her “partner” in life.
“My momma. I sit back and think about how much she has done and shown me,” Gomez wrote on Instagram in 2017. “It truly has blown me away. She teaches me most about life and I couldn’t be luckier to have a partner like her in life.”
Gomez knows how much Teefey sacrificed for her.
During an acceptance speech at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards (per Fox), Gomez called Teefey “the greatest human being in the world.”
“She’s so strong and she’s given up her life for me. She’s so beautiful,” Gomez continued. “She’s incredible.
The first memory Gomez has is of her mom.
During her Vogue 73 Questions interview, Gomez said the first memory she has is of her “mom painting.” Even sweeter, when asked who she looks up to most in life, she had a simple answer: “my mom.”
In the same chat, Gomez also shared the best piece of advice she’s received from Teefey—“treat others how you wish to be treated”—plus an important rule her parents taught her: “Everyone is equal, and everything happens for a reason.” As for her favorite thing about her mom, Gomez told Vogue it’s her laugh.
Teefey helped Gomez through her anxiety growing up.
During a conversation about her 2022 documentary My Mind & Me, Gomez opened up about the loving environment Teefey created for her as a kid and how it helped ease her early anxieties.
“I felt scared of so many things in life, and I think it’s because I grew up anxious,” Gomez said. “I felt like I needed to perform and I needed to be the best I possibly could be. And my mom was always that person that allowed me to be exactly who I wanted to be and didn’t judge me for any of it and loved me through it and also would give me the information and the tools to grow. Instead of instilling more fear in me, she continued to educate me on the things that I was terrified of.”
When Gomez hears “strong woman,” she thinks of Teefey.
“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,” Gomez said in 2013 during an event for the education organization WE Charity. “So, to me, she’s the definition of a strong woman, and I love her so much…When people try to tell you that you’re not good enough, there was my mom next to me stronger than ever, and she said the most important thing is to always trust in myself.”
