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Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato Reunite for First Time Publicly in Nearly 10 Years
If you're ready to have all the feels, come and get 'em.
On the opening night of Demi Lovato's It's Not That Deep Tour, Selena Gomez reunited with her friend of 25-plus years backstage, resulting in the first new photo of the pair in almost a decade.
Their visit certainly caused some hearts to swell, but as the now-33-year-old Princess Protection Program costars have proved time and again, their bond has never depended on proximity.
"We've been through a lot together," Lovato told MTV News in April 2013 after Gomez had her first solo hit with "Come & Get It." And, she admitted, "We've had periods of time where we grew apart and we just didn't really talk."
But not being in constant contact "doesn't invalidate" a friendship, she added. "You know when you can pick up with someone right where you left off."
Gomez concurred, capturing a selfie with Lovato taken months later, "It's just the evidence of forever. No matter what @ddlovato."
By then, the Disney Channel alums had successfully weathered the "Ask Taylor" era, which began in January 2010 when Lovato replied to a fan who asked her how Gomez was doing with that choice suggestion.
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The exchange, which took place outside a London hotel, launched countless feud theories. First, Lovato was chummy with Taylor Swift. Then Lovato went through a rough breakup with Joe Jonas, Swift went on to briefly date the Camp Rock star, Gomez and Swift became dear friends... Discuss.
But when Lovato was in a downward spiral toward the end of 2010, resulting in her first trip to rehab, Gomez and Swift were among the people who reached out to her—a revelation that helped quash the speculation that Gomez's squad membership had come between them.
Gomez eventually acknowledged that she and Lovato were on the outs for a while, and she owned up to her role in how that happened.
"I've known her since we were 7, and we did fall apart for a while," the Only Murders in the Building star told Seventeen in 2014, when she and Lovato, born just a month apart, were 21. "She was going through things and I was so young and it was confusing. I processed it saying, 'OK, I don't understand what she's going through, so I'm just going to do this.' I don't think it was fair, and I'm so happy that I have her back in my life now."
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Moreover, Gomez added, "Demi's very, very strong. She's the only person that I would tell the deepest, darkest secrets to. The only person."
That wasn't the end of social media sleuths playing guess-the-temperature when it came to the state of the singers' bond, though, not least because Lovato unfollowed Gomez on social media later that year—"I think it's just one of those things where people change," she explained on Watch What Happens Live! that August, "people grow apart"—and Gomez singled out Swift as "one of the few people I've maintained a friendship with in this industry."
But the #forever hashtags were back in force in 2015 as they exchanged birthday greetings, and all seemed right with the world once again.
"I love her. She's like family at this point," Gomez said of Lovato in September 2015, telling Entertainment Tonight, "It's just nice to be able to see people that you grew up with succeed."
Then, in 2016, it was Gomez who needed to take time away from the spotlight to focus on her mental health. And when complications from lupus led to her having a kidney transplant in the summer of 2017, Lovato applauded her friend's bravery.
"I think that she is a very strong woman," Lovato told People a day after Gomez shared she was recovering from the procedure. "I'm very happy and proud of her."
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Gomez subsequently praised the raw 2017 documentary Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated as "beautiful," writing on Instagram that October, "You always continue to [be] bold and real. I wish more people were like you. Love you."
They've been going back and forth like that ever since, forever linked due to their shared days in the child star trenches though their paths have long since diverged. And yet, that connection they forged 26 years ago has always allowed them to find their way back to each other.
After knowing Gomez from Barney & Friends, "I felt this safety when I came into the Disney Channel, having a built-in friendship there already," Lovato reflected on a March episode of the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast. "I'm so grateful for that, will always be grateful for the friendship that I have and continue to have with her."
Selena Gomez/Instagram
And Gomez, who has always cheered Lovato's success, raved on her Instagram Story after catching the It's Not That Deep concert April 13 in Orlando, "I am in tears. This was hands down one of the best shows. Oh and the VOCALS? Psh *blown away*.”
What's better than a #forever friendship that you can always return to?
See more of your favorite celebrity BFFs:
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Cameron Diaz & Nicole Richie
Nicole, a longtime fan of her sister-in-law's movies, several years ago took the opportunity to ask her to re-enact a few of her favorite movie scenes, including one from My Best Friend's Wedding.
"We were in Chicago and I said to her, 'Cameron, I need you to give it to me. I need you to get behind the luggage cart and run towards me, towards the airport,'" she said on the Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino podcast in May 2024. "I really think like at a certain point, we were driving past things and I was like, 'Say this. Say this. Say this.' And she really just let me have it. It was very generous of her."
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Amy Schumer & Jennifer Lawrence
Thank goodness Lawrence is down to hang or we might have been robbed of one of our most beloved set of besties. Their friendship was born from an email the Oscar winner sent after watching Schumer's 2015 comedy. "I emailed her after I saw Trainwreck and said, 'I don't know where to get started. I guess I should just say it: I'm in love with you,'" she recalled to The New York Times. "We started emailing, and then emailing turned to texting."
But what really solidified their bond was Schumer's casual invite for her new pal to join her and her high school friends in the Hamptons. Shocked when she said yes, Schumer relaxed when she realized Lawrence is "the coolest chick you'll ever meet," she said on The Daily Show. "She's the best hang, she was like one of the gang."
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Jennifer Lopez & Leah Remini
Who doesn't want a friend that basically owns real estate in your corner? They've been tight since falling in love at first sight at the 2004 premiere of Man on Fire. "It was one of those instant chemistry things where you just feel like, 'I love this person. I love being around this person. This person makes me laugh,'" Lopez recalled to Entertainment Tonight of her Brooklyn-bred bestie.
And Remini was among those getting loud in celebration of Lopez's performance at President Joe Biden's inauguration. "I wrote her and said, 'You know, you're a girl from the Bronx. 'Like, what you did today was really inspiring, and it was just beautiful to watch," she told E! News. "Just beautiful.'"
Instagram/Lisa Kudrow
Jennifer Aniston & Courteney Cox & Lisa Kudrow
The gold standard of celebrity besties—this trio has been in lock step since their days of sharing salads on the Warner Brothers lot. "They grew up together and went through this formidable life experience that was Friends," a source told E! News.
So, much like you might meet up with coworkers from your first job, they make it a point to get happy hours (and the occasional major reunion) on their calendar. "Geographically it's not hard to be at Courteney's Sunday dinners or at a pool party at Jen's house," notes the source. "They all feel incredibly close and always will be."
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Tiny Fey & Amy Poehler
Making other friends jealous since a chance meeting at improv training in 1993, the frequent costars are so close, they liken their bond to that of family. "I think that Tina and I are chosen sisters," Poehler, whose sole sibling is younger brother Greg, told PopSugar while discussing their 2015 flick Sisters. "I think we are chosen family, so I think it's been fun to experience that thing I never got to experience in real life."
Jordin Althaus/E!
Michelle Williams & Busy Philipps
"It was like, you know, how people say love at first sight? We had that thing," Philipps told Entertainment Weekly of their initial interaction on the Dawson's Creek set. "We had that friend connection. It was just an immediate: 'Of course we're drinking wine and smoking cigarettes and getting in bar fights.' We just had an immediate love for each other that's continued over the years."
Fortunately for us, we get to voyeuristically follow along as they work red carpets, wear coordinating outfits and occasionally dye Williams' hair the most perfect shade of millennial pink.
E! Illustration; Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Adele & Drake
Theirs is a newer alliance, but no less desirable. After years of existing in the same orbit, the "Hotline Bling" rapper and the "Hello" songstress, who have 19 Grammys between them, began throwing out the idea of a collaboration. "I really want us to do an official remix," she told Canada's etalk of their well-coordinated hits. "I love Drake. I love Drake so much. I even got the coat that's in the video, I got it delivered the other day, I ordered it. The red one."
He responded by saying, "I'd do anything with Adele. I'd literally go to Adele's house right now and do laundry for her." Instead, they grabbed a bite to eat and hit up an L.A. bowling alley. Next time, you know, call us on our cell phone.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Kerry Washington & Eva Longoria
Having had "women that were really helpful to me when I was pregnant," mom of two Washington has always strived to pay it forward with her celeb pals. "I really do try to have those conversations openly and honestly as possible, especially with my soul sister, with Eva," she told Entertainment Tonight. Her advice was well-received when Longoria welcomed son Santiago in 2018, with the Grand Hotel actress calling the Scandal alum, "basically my doula."
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Ben Affleck & Matt Damon
More than 20 years after nabbing Oscar gold, the Good Will Hunting scribes are back at it again, working on The Last Duel. And though it's been a minute since they shared a screen, their bromance hasn't wavered. "I've known him for 35 years, and we grew up together," Damon told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. "We were both in love with the same thing—acting and filmmaking. I think we fed on each other's obsession during really formative, important years and that bonded us for life."
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Oprah Winfrey & Gayle King
The connection between two of television's most powerful women dates back to 1976 when they were working at a Baltimore station—though anchors (Winfrey helmed the 6 p.m. hour) and production assistants (that was King), didn't generally socialize. "The newsroom hierarchy," CBS This Morning cohost King recalled in their O Interview.
But with a heavy snow coming down, Winfrey invited the $12,000-a-year PA to sleep at her house. "The next day," said Winfrey, "we went to the mall." And a friendship was born over Casual Corner sweaters.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for DirecTV
Serena Williams & Meghan Markle
Sure, your friend dates likely don't involve watching your pal play for Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles or get-togethers at a palace. But the bond between the tennis champ and the Duchess of Sussex began much like any other—over girl talk. "We hit it off immediately," Meghan wrote on her now-shuttered lifestyle website The Tig of their meeting at a 2014 Super Bowl event. "Taking pictures, laughing through the flag football game we were both playing in, and chatting not about tennis or acting, but about all the good old fashioned girly stuff."
Sophie Turner & Maisie Williams
Game of Thrones may have wrapped, but the relationship between the Stark sisters lives on. In fact Williams, who served as Turner's maid of honor when she wed Joe Jonas in 2019, is convinced the best thing to come of the eight-season HBO hit wasn't any of its 12 Emmy awards. "It was like one big elaborate thing to find me a best friend. This whole show!" she joked to E! News at the final season premiere. "I'm kidding. It's been incredible. To have a friend like that on something as wild as this is just like a godsend, really."
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP; Getty Images
Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds & Taylor Swift
Whose heart didn't melt watching Reynolds and Lively excitedly react to hearing their eldest daughter James' open Swift's "Gorgeous" track in concert? Lively later called the viral video embarrassing, telling Good Morning America's Robin Roberts it was "the true, unfiltered version of our terrible stage parent pride."
But the trio's friendship, which involves Fourth of July gatherings at Swift's Rhode Island manse, stays at the couple's New York country home and cameos in Swift's music videos, is pure and should be protected at all costs.
Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Reese Witherspoon & Jennifer Aniston
Friends gifted Aniston with more than one goals-worthy bestie. Before she and Witherspoon developed their Apple TV+ series, The Morning Show, they portrayed sisters on the NBC hit. "I was 23 years old and had just had a baby," the Oscar winner recalled to Harper's Bazaar of her two-episode arc back in 2000. "I was nursing Ava [Phillippe] on set, and Jen just kept going, 'You have a baby?' I was like, 'I know, it's weird.' And I remember her being like, 'Where are you going?' And I was like, 'I'm pumping!'" Though Witherspoon felt admittedly nervous, she said Aniston couldn't have been more sweet: "We've been friends ever since."
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Martha Stewart & Snoop Dogg
Equal parts intriguing and covetable, this pairing was solidified at The Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber in 2015 before they teamed up for their VH1 cooking show, Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party. "She different, ya know, than what I'm accustomed," the marijuana-loving 17-time Grammy winner told LA Weekly of the Westchester-based domestic doyenne. "But then again she's so what I'm accustomed to. 'Cause she people. She just look different and she was born in a different era, but if you hang out with her and chill with her, she just like anybody else. That's why it works, because she never says nothing that's crazy in my ears. It's always like, 'Damn, I thought you would say that. OK.' That's why we get down, that's why we connected, Martha. 'Cause it feels like holy matrimony, and not holy macaroni."
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