Selena Gomez shocked fans on Wednesday night by revealing she is now engaged to her boyfriend Benny Blanco after just over a year of dating.
The singer, 32, revealed the news on Instagram, sharing the first photos of her massive diamond engagement ring with her 422million followers.
‘forever begins now..’ captioned the Who Said singer.
She also included a photo of herself showing off her ring for the camera as Blanco, 36, wrapped his arm around her and kissed her head.
Blanco — a famed music producer — seemingly popped the question during a romantic nighttime picnic.
Gomez received an outpouring of love from fans and her celebrity friends, including Cardi B, Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Blanco himself also left a cheeky comment in which he referred to Gomez as his ‘wife.’
‘hey wait… that’s my wife,’ wrote the musician, who earned nearly 150,000 ‘likes.’
Gomez has been dating Blanco since June 2023, though she did not confirm the relationship until that December.
She took to Instagram to inform her followers that she had been in a secret relationship with the popular music artist for half a year, describing him as incredibly important to her.
Before this, the singer had previous relationships with The Weeknd, Zedd, Nick Jonas, Taylor Lautner, and was rumored to have connections with other celebrities like Zayn Malik and Andrew Taggart from The Chainsmokers.
Her most well-known romance was with Justin Bieber, lasting on and off for eight years before coming to an end in 2018. Justin is now happily married to model Hailey Bieber, and they recently welcomed a baby boy in August.
Before getting romantic, Gomez and Blanco were friends for over a decade and even worked on music together.
He has produced three of the singer’s biggest hits, including the 2021 tune I Can’t Get Enough and 2015’s Same Old Love.
Last month, Blanco revealed that it was Gomez who made the first move.
‘She asked me out. It was crazy, it was crazy. She literally asked me… like we were just talking, and then she said, ‘You wanna get dinner?’ And I went to the dinner, and I had no idea,’ he explained on Kai Cenat’s Twitch stream.
Blanco claimed he wasn’t ‘nervous’ because he already knew Gomez on a personal and professional level.
‘No [I wasn’t nervous], ’cause I’ve been friends with her for years. We’ve been friends for like 10 years plus, maybe 15,’ he told Cenat.
Blanco said he and Gomez got drinks but that he didn’t immediately realize that he and the Rare Beauty founder were on a date.
‘I didn’t even realize we were on a date. And she was like, ‘I would’ve worn something different to this date.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, what? We’re on a date?’ I had no idea. No idea we were on a date,’ he said.
‘She left early because she had to go somewhere to film a video the next day, and then we hung out like two days later, and then I was like, ‘Yo, I think she likes me.’ And then I literally just kissed her, and the rest is history.’
He went on to call Gomez his ‘best friend.’
Also last month, Gomez spoke about her ‘future’ with Blanco during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
The Emilia Perez star has had a slew of high-profile romances from fellow Disney Channel star Nick Jonas to her nearly decade-long on/off relationship with Justin Bieber.
But she told the outlet that Blanco is the one man who has made her feel the ‘safest.’
‘This is the safest I’ve ever felt in [a relationship], and I see a future with this person,’ she told the outlet.
The security Blanco provides has made her more comfortable with posting photos and videos of them online for her fans to see.
‘And when you put a little bit out there, people are not as hungry to hunt you down,’ Gomez noted.
The couple first sparked engagement speculation in August when eagle-eyed fans noticed Gomez had uploaded a selfie to her Instagram Story with her left wedding finger obscured by a pink heart emoji.
Adding fuel to the fire, the gossip site, DeuxMoi shared a ‘tip’ that Gomez ‘got engaged over the weekend’ while ‘surrounded by friends at their usual beach house hang out’ earlier that month.
Gomez seemed to shutdown the rumors when she emerged in public just days later without a ring on her finger.
Prior to Wednesday’s engagement, Gomez and Blanco have both publicly discussed the possibility of getting married.
While appearing on Howard Stern in May, Blanco said he could see himself marring the billionaire.
He made the reveal after Stern asked him to share was going to ask Gomez for her hand in marriage.
‘When I look at her, I do say, I’m always just like, ‘I don’t know a world where it could be better than this,” he gushed.
Stern then predicted marriage in their future, and Blanco replied, ‘You and me both.’
Earlier in the same interview, Blanco expressed his desire to welcome kids with Gomez someday. ‘That’s my next goal [to check] on the box. I have a lot of god kids, I’ve got a ton of nephews. I love being around kids,’ he told Stern.
When asked about Blanco’s comments about marriage and children at the Time 100 Event in May, Gomez said: ‘He can’t lie to save his life. If he’s asked a question, he’ll answer it.’
‘I just cherish every moment with him. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that he’s not going anywhere any time soon.’
Gomez then revealed that she had plans to adopt a child herself if she didn’t meet the right partner by age 35.
‘I was alone for five years, and I got really used to it,’ Selena said. ‘A lot of people are afraid of being alone and I probably tortured myself in my head for like two years being alone, and then I kind of accepted it.
‘Then I came up with my plan, which was I was going to adopt at 35 if I had not met anyone,’ she said.
Gomez’s adoption plans also stem from the fact that she cannot ‘carry’ children due to medical reasons, which includes a long battle with the chronic autoimmune disease Lupus.
She told Vanity Fair in September that she had to ‘grieve’ her inability to become a mother naturally.
‘I haven’t ever said this,’ she told the publication, ‘but I unfortunately can’t carry my own children.
‘I have a lot of medical issues that would put my life and the baby’s in jeopardy. That was something I had to grieve for a while.
Although her path to motherhood will ‘look different’, the actress doubled down on the fact that she wants to be one someday.
She told the outlet: ‘It’s not necessarily the way I envisioned it. I thought it would happen the way it happens for everyone.
‘I’m in a much better place with that. I find it a blessing that there are wonderful people willing to do surrogacy or adoption, which are both huge possibilities for me.
‘It made me really thankful for the other outlets for people who are dying to be moms. I’m one of those people. I’m excited for what that journey will look like, but it’ll look a little different,’ she said.
Selena expressed that through surrogacy or adoption, the child will be ‘mine.’
‘At the end of the day, I don’t care. It’ll be mine. It’ll be my baby,’ she expressed.
While fans of Gomez have warmed up to Blanco, the music producer was initially met with backlash when their romance was revealed.
After Gomez confirmed they were dating in December 2023, fans recirculated a 2020 clip of Blanco seemingly throwing shade at his now-fiancee while praising her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber, who he worked with on the 2021 hit Lonely, work ethic.
Specifically, he made a thinly-veiled dig at pop stars who have makeup lines — like Gomez, who launched the wildly popular brand Rare Beauty in 200 — on an episode of The Zach Sang Show.
‘Justin’s not one of those cookie-cutter pop artists. Like you know, they’re like, “This is my new single and here’s my makeup line.” And he’s like, Justin’s like, “Yo. I have a pimple and I have anxiety today.” He’s always been upfront about that stuff,’ Blanco said.
‘For me, I think he’s really falling into himself as an adult now. It’s brave to put this song out,’ he added.
While many fans were left offended by the Blanco’s remarks, others used it as motivation to cruelly criticize his appearance on social media.
This prompted Gomez to take the comment section herself to defend him.
She told fans that they were ‘so off’ with their views on Blanco as a person and insisted that he has ‘treated me better than any human being on this planet.’
In spite of all the nasty criticism about his looks, it was revealed last month that Blanco had been chosen as one of People magazine’ Sexiest Men Alive.
Gomez reacted by gushing about how ‘proud’ she was of the record producer during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
While flashing a cheerful smile, Gomez excitedly responded with, ‘Yeah, that’s my man!’
She also revealed her first reaction upon learning that Benny would be featured in the publication and expressed, ‘You know, it was very charming.’
‘I think, for me, I am beyond proud to know that there is someone in the world that deeply cares about every tiny detail about who I am.’
Gomez continued, ‘And have someone support me, encourage me, inspire me and motivate me. It brings me a joy.’
‘And more than anything he’s just my best friend. And I’m really, really lucky so…,’ the actress concluded.
While Gomez has dated a long list of high-profile hunks prior to Blanco, her most famous romance was with fellow pop star Justin Bieber.
She and the Baby hitmaker first met in 2009 and Gomez publicly referred to him as her ‘little brother’ in the media.
However, their friendship turned romantic in late 2010 and they dated on/off until their first split in 2014. They reportedly broke up after Gomez found photo of Kylie Jenner on Bieber’s phone.
They briefly reunited but split up again by December 2014.
Fans were shocked when Gomez and Bieber gave their relationship another try in 2017. They called it quits for good in May 2018 and Bieber got married to his current wife Hailey Bieber just three months later.
Due to how quickly Bieber seemingly moved on with Hailey, Gomez’s fans engaged in a years-long war with Hailey, often leaving taunting or cruel comments on her social media page.
The bullying got so bad in that Gomez was forced to issue a statement, asking her fans to backdown, in early 2022.
Later that same year, Gomez confessed that her break-up with Bieber was the ‘best thing that ever happened to her’ in her Apple + documentary, My Mind & Me.
She said she felt the ‘worst break-up ever’ had to happen so that she could learn to ‘choose herself and choose life again.’
‘I feel like I had to go through the worst possible heartbreak ever and then just forgetting everything at the drop of the hand, it was really confusing. But I just think that needed to happen and ultimately it was the best thing that ever happened to me.’
During her and Bieber’s ‘off’ period between 2014 and 2017, Gomez was linked to the likes of Lord Of The Ring star Orlando Bloom, DJ Zedd, One Direction’s Niall Horan and singer/producer Charlie Puth.
