Incredible: 7 Times Selena Gomez Reminded the World That Her Mom Is the Best Mom…Read more

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, ‘OK, 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.

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.