Hailey Bieber Explains Why It’s ‘Always Annoying’ to Be Pitted Against Selena Gomez and Other Stars

THE RUNDOWN

• In her WSJ Magazine profile, Hailey Bieber opened up about how she dislikes being pitted against other stars, including Justin’s ex Selena Gomez.
• She said she “didn’t ask” for that treatment and doesn’t feel competitive with other beauty brands, either.
• The star spoke in more detail about being compared to Gomez in June 2023, saying, “I’ve hated it since the beginning.”

Hailey Bieber is celebrating one of Rhode’s most successful years ever, following its $1 billion acquisition by e.l.f. Beauty and its recent launch in Sephora. Still, she told WSJ Magazine that those milestones haven’t stopped negative comments about her marriage to Justin Bieber or people pitting her against other celebrities, including Justin’s ex Selena Gomez.

She said she doesn’t feel competitive with other Sephora brands, including Gomez’s Rare Beauty line. “I think there is space for everybody,” she said, noting that she is most competitive with herself. “I don’t feel competitive with people that I’m not inspired by.”

When the reporter tried to ask directly about comparisons to Gomez and Rare Beauty, Hailey’s publicist shut the question down. But Hailey still addressed how little she appreciates being pitted against anyone.

“It’s always annoying being pitted against other people. I didn’t ask for that,” she said. “When people want to see you a certain way and they’ve made up a story about you in their minds, it’s not up to you to change that.”

While speculation about her and Justin’s relationship hasn’t stopped either, Hailey stressed what their reality is: “We’re both really finding our voices of who we are and, I believe, both really walking authentically in what it is we actually want to be doing.”

The star spoke more explicitly about being pitted against Gomez in June 2023. “I don’t think that this is about me, Hailey Bieber, and Selena Gomez—this is not about this pitting between two women and division between two women,” she said on The Circuit With Emily Chang. “It’s about the vile, disgusting hatred that can come from completely made-up and twisted and perpetuated narratives. That can be really dangerous.”

She was especially disgusted that she and Gomez were compared solely because of their connections to Justin. “[Two women] being pitted against each other because of a guy? It’s awful,” she said. “I hate it. I’ve hated it since the beginning. And I think that kind of goes back to a little bit of just being misunderstood when it’s like time and time again I don’t know why I keep having to say, and we keep having to say, that there is no issue and there is no problem. It’s so disappointing that people still behave this way over a man. It’s the world we live in, unfortunately.”