Titled “Mindfulness Over Perfection: Getting Real On Mental Health,” the session included Gomez and Teefey as panelists, as well as New York Jets defensive tackle Solomon Thomas and Dr. Corey Yeager, a licensed marriage and family therapist and the current psychotherapist for the Detroit Pistons. Gomez and Teefey co-founded Wondermind, which publishes resources and articles to give people “easy, doable ways to put your mental fitness first every day,” according to the company’s website.
During the panel, Gomez touched on the tumultuous journey that has been her long and illustrious career in Hollywood. In 2022, the singer/actress released Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, a documentary about herself that differentiated from other autobiographical films. In the documentary, Gomez documented six years of her life and her struggles with mental and physical health, alongside her diagnoses of bipolar disorder and lupus. Gomez said she was “terrified” when the documentary was released.
“I went back and forth on whether I’d do it or not,” Gomez said at the Austin event. “And I think the moment I did that, I felt this insane amount of release because there wasn’t any hiding anymore.”
She also saw the documentary as an opportunity to release “a lot of anxiety” and show a reflection of herself to others that could help remove the stigma associated with mental health issues.
“I felt like I could sacrifice myself so that others could see what it might really be like,” said the Grand Prairie native.
In her journey of self-discovery and acceptance, Gomez said she went to a treatment center and now regularly participates in therapy. Due to working in what she says is the “weirdest industry,” Gomez found that she needed to follow her journey and find her own path.
“I had to hit my rock bottom, and I had to do it at my time, and I took a couple of tries, but I’d like to think and hope that I’m in a much better place now,” Gomez said.
Her most focused step in this new path is the creation of Wondermind with her mother. Gomez and Teefey established the company after several personal conversations led them to wonder how they could help facilitate that dialog for other people.
“It just stemmed from us really wanting to help other mom[s] and daughters to have real, open, honest conversations," said Gomez.
Beautiful Mind
Wondermind was launched in October 2022 to provide daily resources for people to sustain their mental fitness. The website has several resources for consumers, including daily articles, personal stories and podcasts, which are all meant to give consumers the tools to nourish their mental health daily. Wondermind also has a newsletter so people can obtain these resources directly.Teefey noted that although they are not doctors or professionals in mental health, they can give that “family support” that she and Gomez were giving each other and make it available to everyone.
“We don’t diagnose you, because that’s not our forte — we are not doctors,” Teefey said. “It’s definitely a place to explore what you need to know about you and how you feel and it’s a discovery of yourself.”
Gomez saw the company as an opportunity to make the journey of mental health more mainstream and have her experiences influence others.
“It was about our journeys, and we ended up relating a lot to each other,” she said. “And it was a turning point, and I think it was more like, ‘How can we do that for other people?’”
