In 2017, anyone who wasn't already a fan of the actor got to know the name Francia Raísa when it was revealed that she had donated an organ to her friend Selena Gomez. The Only Murders in the Building star has the autoimmune disease lupus, which required a kidney transplant. In September 2017, she shared that she had undergone surgery and that the kidney had been donated by her best friend.
"There aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa," Gomez wrote on Instagram. "She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed. I love you so much sis."
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But, while Gomez and Raísa were clearly very close, in 2022, fans began to notice that their relationship seemed to have changed. As reported by Us Weekly, Raísa and Gomez seemed to be on good terms until November 2022 when Gomez told Rolling Stone in an interview, "My only friend in the industry really is Taylor [Swift], so I remember feeling like I didn’t belong."
Raísa commented "interesting" under a post about the interview and unfollowed Gomez on Instagram. Gomez subsequently wrote on TikTok, "Sorry I didn’t mention every person I know." The interview was tied to the release the documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, focused on the star's mental health, which doesn't feature Raísa.
In a new interview with Today.com, Raísa opened up about her falling out with Gomez and their reconnection.
"We didn’t talk for a year after that whole situation with her documentary happened," the 35-year-old said. "I’ll be honest, we didn’t speak for a year. I just was like, 'I need my space.'"
The two stars began talking again in July 2023. Around this time, TMZ asked Raísa about her relationship with the 31-year-old singer, and she responded, "There's no beef." Raísa shared that when she and Gomez finally hung out, she had to explain some of their supposed "feud" to her friend.
"I told her everything," the How I Met Your Father star told Today.com. "I was like, 'Girl, I don’t know who started that rumor that you ended up in rehab because I got mad or whatever.' And she goes, 'That’s a rumor?' I said, 'Oh, let me tell you about the last six years of my life.' So there was just a lot of misunderstanding even with the whole documentary—we hashed all that out."
Raísa said she and Gomez reintroduced themselves to each other as the people they are today. "I was like, 'Listen, you’re in your 30s now, and I’ve been in my 30s for a hot minute.' I said, 'It’s different, isn’t it?' She goes, 'It’s really different.' I said, 'So we’re gonna get to know each other again. Nice to meet you, this is a 35-year-old version of me. We’re not 22 anymore.'" She added, "It was nothing personal on my end. I know it wasn’t anything personal on her end. I think it just needed to happen."
Raísa went on to explain that she and and Gomez talked about Raísa's new salsa line, which Gomez told her is "the most you thing I've ever heard." They ended up incorporating Raísa's controversial "there's no beef" comment into a promotion for the salsa while also publicly clarifying the state of their relationship. In October, Raísa posted photos of herself and Gomez wearing shirts printed with the slogan, "No beef, just salsa."
Raísa also recently opened up about her friendship with Gomez in an October interview with Extra. "People grow, relationships change. Obviously, I treat her like my little sister, she treats me like her older sister… I don’t know any relationship that’s perfect," she said while supporting Gomez at her Rare Impact Fund Benefit. "We had to almost go on our own journey and grow... I am really happy in my career now and my endeavor. I don’t know if I would be able to do that if I didn’t really take some time for myself and figure out what the hell was going on with me, because I wasn’t OK.”
She clarified, "I am OK now, and just for the record, it had nothing to do with the kidney."
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