It doesn’t matter what corner of TikTok you lurk on, literally nowhere is safe from endless posts speculating about drama between Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez. Some of it is a reach, some of it is real, some of it is about eyebrows, and all of it is extremely confusing. So for everyone’s sanity, we’re putting everything in one place. Please be advised, though, that this timeline covers 2023 only. Our brains are simply too tired to deep-dive social media posts from the early aughts, and also…do they matter? No!
January 9
The drama between Hailey and Selena seemingly starts when fans assumed that a TikTok Hailey posted (and quickly deleted) was “shading” Sel. The TikTok in question featured Hailey and her friends lip-syncing to the sound, “And I’m not saying she deserved it, but God’s timing is always right,” and fans speculated that it was a reference to Selena being body-shamed over recent vacation photos.
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January 11
Hailey responds to speculation about her alleged shade, writing, “I never comment on this type of thing but we were just having a girls’ night and did a random TikTok sound for fun. It’s not directed at anyone.”
February 9
Selena hops into the comments of the TikTok above and writes, “It’s ok! I don’t let these things get me down! Be nice to everyone! x.”
February 22
In the wake of Selena mentioning that she over-laminated her eyebrows on TikTok, fans spiral thanks to Kylie Jenner posting a photo of herself with the words “This was an accident???” over her brows. And then they spiral more when Kylie shares a picture of Hailey Bieber’s brows.
February 23
Kylie hops into the comments of the above TikTok to write, “This is reaching. No shade towards Selena ever and I didn’t see her eyebrow posts! U guys are making something out of nothing. This is silly.”
Selena responds directly to Kylie’s comment, writing below it, “Agreed @kyliejenner It’s all unnecessary. I’m a fan of Kylie!”
Later in the day, the internet realizes that Selena commented on an old video of Hailey seemingly gagging at a mention of Taylor Swift’s name. In response, Sel wrote, “So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game.”
Shortly after this, Selena announces she’s taking a break from social media during a TikTok Live, saying, “I’m very happy, I’m so blessed, I have the best friends, the best fans in the whole world, and I just couldn’t be happier. I’m good. I love the way I am, I don’t care, I’m big, I’m not, I don’t care. I love who I am. And yeah, I’m gonna be taking a second from social media, because this is a little silly. And I’m 30, I’m too old for this, so…but I love you guys so much! And I will see you guys sooner than later, I just…I’m just gonna just take a break from everything.”
She also changes the caption of her most recent Insta to reflect the break:
February 24
Fans notice that Selena (before logging off, obviously) commented on *multiple* TikToks calling out Hailey for alleged bullying. In addition to writing “I love you” on a since-deleted video of a fan calling out “mean girls coming at [Selena’s] fucking throat,” she writes “that made me cry” and “thank you” in the comments of this video from a fan chatting about what she’s been going through.
Notably, the TikTok above starts with, “Does anybody just ever feel really bad for Selena Gomez? Like, can you imagine going through a breakup so publicly with a guy that you were in love with for seven years and then two months later he just marries someone?”
February 25
Justin Bieber’s mom, Pattie Mallette, tweets THIS at the peak of all this Hailey and Selena drama:
February 26
Fans then claim Pattie Liked and un-Liked a tweet about Selena’s brief social break:
February 27
Fans read into Hailey’s decision to use the solo version of “Calm Down” by Rema without Selena in an Insta Story.
March 3
In the wake of both Kylie and Hailey losing followers (and Selena gaining millions), DeuxMoi reports that a reliable source says Selena is “majorly annoyed” by the way everything has spiraled. More in the TikTok below!
March 4
Selena breaks her TikTok silence by dropping a response on Lizzo’s recent post:
March 5
Selena calls for fans to be kinder in a TikTok comment, saying her heart has been “heavy.”
While people speculate that a party favor given out at Justin’s birthday was a dig at Selena:
March 6
A source tells Us Weekly that Hailey is leaning on Justin for support, saying, “Justin has been an amazing support system for Hailey throughout all this. He knows how happy Hailey felt after she and Selena made amends and thought they had put this all behind them.”
The insider adds that Hailey has “been leaning on Justin and knows he has her back no matter what” and that “their marriage is stronger than ever, and it’s challenging times like this that only strengthen their bond.”
March 7
A video of crowds chanting “fuck Hailey Bieber” (so not okay) at Justin during his Rolling Loud appearance makes the rounds on Twitter:
March 14
Just when all this drama was calming down, Selena’s Wizards of Waverly Place costar Jennifer Stone hops on TikTok to defend her friend, lip-syncing audio of Jamie Lee Curtis saying, “People should shut the fuck up, back the fuck off, and let this woman shine her light.”
She captions the video, “When people try to mess with my people #backoff #growup #jealousyjealousy #shineyourlight #womenforwomen #teamselena.”
March 24
Sel makes a statement on Instagram saying that Hailey herself reached out to her and revealed that she’s been receiving death threats. In her statement, the actor makes her stance on the whole ordeal v clear, saying that she wants “this all to stop.”
“Hailey Bieber reached out to me and let me know that she has been receiving death threats and such hateful negativity. This isn’t what I stand for. No one should have to experience hate or bullying. I’ve always advocated for kindness and really want this all to stop.”
A few hours later, Hailey posted a statement of her own in response to Selena’s call for kindness, which you can read below:
“I want to thank Selena for speaking out, as her and I have been discussing the last few weeks how to move past this ongoing narrative between her and I.
“The last few weeks have been very hard for everyone involved, and millions of people are seeing so much hate around this, which is extremely harmful. While social media is an incredible way to connect and build community, moments like this only create extreme division instead of bringing people together.
“Things can always be taken out of context or construed differently than they were intended. We all need to be more thoughtful about what we post and what we say, including myself.
“In the end, I believe love will always be bigger than hate and negativity, and there is always an opportunity to meet each other with more empathy and compassion.”
March 28
Hailey shows yet another public show of support for Sel—this time via a more low-key Like on a throwback pic:
June 13
Hailey hops on Instagram and posts the below statement without giving any explanation about what she’s referring to. However, Just Jared reports that her fans and Selena Gomez’s fans started “fighting again this weekend,” so it seems possible that this is in response—especially because Hailey also Liked one of Selena’s Instagram posts.
Aaand that brings us up to date. But inevitably, we will be updating this with the latest, so stay tuned.
