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Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber have officially unfollowed each other on Instagram. Yes, again. And while both stars have repeatedly shut down rumors of a feud, fans aren’t buying it this time, especially with the timing of it all.
Eagle-eyed followers noticed the quiet social media unfriending earlier this week, setting off a new wave of speculation. Given the pair’s history, this seemingly small act is making headlines all over.
© Getty ImagesSelena, 32, and Hailey, 28, have long been linked through their connections to Justin Bieber—Selena’s on-again, off-again relationship with the pop star famously ended in 2018. Soon after, Justin married Hailey, which pretty much guaranteed that the internet would pit the two women against each other, no matter what they said or did.
In 2022, after years of endless headlines and fan-fueled drama, Selena and Hailey tried to publicly squash the beef by posing for a now-viral photo together at an event. Selena also made a public plea to her fans, asking them to stop sending online hate toward Hailey. It looked like a genuine truce.
And it didn’t stop there. In 2023, the duo followed each other on Instagram, a move fans took as a clear sign that the hatchet had been buried. Since then, both stars have sprinkled their timelines with mutual support. Hailey liked Selena’s announcement of engagement with Benny Blanco late last year. Selena returned the favor this May by liking a Sephora post about Hailey’s Rhode beauty brand launching in the retailer. This was no small gesture, considering that Sephora is also the exclusive stockist of Selena’s Rare Beauty line.
© Dave Benett/Getty Images for RhoSo, why the sudden digital cold shoulder? Fans are scrambling for answers, even though they say they are tired of the drama.
Last month may have been the tipping point. After Hailey’s beauty brand, Rhode, was acquired by E.L.F. Cosmetics in a reported billion-dollar deal, Rare Beauty’s Instagram posted two glam shots of Selena with the caption “Still here.” One snap had her blowing a kiss to the camera; the other was a sultry stare-down.
© Getty Images for Rare BeautyMany interpreted the post as a sly dig at Hailey’s big news, igniting a mini firestorm in the comments. Hailey’s supporters weren’t pleased, accusing Selena of being shady. “It seems like Hailey is always on her mind. Pathetic,” one commenter wrote. Another chimed in, “The way she’s actually shady as hell.”
Fast forward to this week’s unfollowing, and both fan bases are in full meltdown mode. Some are exhausted by the drama (“Not again, this stupid drama… imagine how tired we are”), while others are deep-diving into every recent post and looking for new clues.
© GettyFor now, neither Selena nor Hailey has publicly commented on the latest turn of events. In the meantime, the question remains: is this the return of the Selena-Hailey feud, or just another case of the internet reading too much into a pair of unfollows?
