Selena Gomez Named Billboard's Woman of the Year, Talks The Weeknd, Women's Revolution, Staying Strong

Star girl Selena Gomez covers the December 9th, 2017 cover of Billboard, celebrating her being named the 2017 Woman of the Year. Kate Young  styles Gomez for images by Ruven Afanador. 

Gomez's 2017 life journey has been intense with producing the hit Netflix show '13 Reasons' to mastering the evolution of her music style with singles like 'Fetish' and 'Bad Liar', to going public about her recent kidney transplant. Gomez deals with each topic in her Billboard interview. 

Then there's the subject of Selena Gomez's love life including The Weeknd and Justin Bieber. In her Billboard interview, Gomez sets the record straight -- although her dear friend hasn't weighed in on his visual banishment of them as a couple from his Instagram page. 

“Something that I’m really proud of is that there’s such a true friendship [between me and The Weeknd],” Gomez told Billboard. “I truly have never experienced anything like that in my life. We ended it as best friends, and it was genuinely about encouraging and caring [for each other], and that was pretty remarkable for me.”

In her interview, also Gomez talks about being proud of the strides made by women in the music industry make this year.. Gomez is especially proud of women using their newfound power to talk about the struggles they face being taken seriously because they know their own talents are as powerful as their male counterparts.  

"The women have really defined their voices," Gomez says, "and I feel most comfortable because I see all the women I look up to feeling comfortable enough to talk about the struggles or things that they've gone through." Earlier this year, Gomez underwent a kidney transplant from actress and friend Francia Raísa as a result of her ongoing battle with lupus. "Being able to talk about that confidently... I feel like I can make a positive impact by sharing my story."