Selena Gomez is speaking out about her kidney transplant for the first time.
And she isn’t doing so alone.
The artist has sat down for her first interview since undergoing this major procedure, talking to The Today Show about all it entailed… while sitting alongside the best friend who made it possible.
That would be Francia Raisa.
About a month ago, Gomez stunned the celebrity gossip community when she confirmed Raisa actually gave her a kidney.
The beloved singer was in rough shape due having Lupus, devastating illness in which a person’s own immune system attacks their healthy cells.
In a preview of a sit-down with the close pals that will air on Monday, Savannah Guthrie Tweeted the following on Friday morning:
“Next week on TODAY: @selenagomez & @therealfrancia speak out together for the 1st time since the kidney transplant that saved Selena’s life.”
Is the co-host being extreme or hyperbolic?
Not really, Selena says.
“I got to the point where it was really kind of life or death,” Gomez says in the interview, growing emotional, adding:
“I didn’t want to ask a single person in my life. And she volunteered and did it.”
For her part, Raisa – an actress best known for her role on The Secret Life of the American Teenager – previously shared on Instagram that the experience changed her life as well.
“I am beyond grateful that God would trust me with something that not only saved a life, but changed mine in the process,” Raisa wrote last month.
She also told Selena in this same post that she loved her and she’s so happy the two could share “this journey together.”
For Gomez, of course, the feeling is quite mutual.
“My kidneys were just done” Gomez tells Guthrie, emphasizing the severity of the situation.
Gomez broke the shocking news of her operation a few weeks ago with a sweet photo of herself and Raísa holding hands from their hospital beds, along with photos of her stomach following the surgery.
“There aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa,” Gomez wrote in the post., expounding as follows:
“She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed.
“I love you so much sis.”
The star also went into a bit of detail regarding what led to the procedure and why she needed it:
“I’m very aware some of my fans had noticed I was laying low for part of the summer and questioning why I wasn’t promoting my new music, which I was extremely proud of.
“I found out I needed to get a kidney transplant due to my Lupus and was recovering. It was what I needed to do for my overall health.”
The full interview with Raisa and Gomez will air across two Today installments on Monday and Tuesday.
This really is a pretty amazing story.
We’ll be tuning in to hear more about it.