On Wednesday (July 26), Selena Gomez shared a sweet birthday message for her longtime friend Francia Raisa, eight months after the two had a public falling-out.
“Happiest of birthdays to this special human being,” Gomez wrote alongside three photos of the pair in happier times. “No matter where life takes us, I love you.”
In addition to being close friends, Raisa — who turned 35 on Wednesday — also donated a kidney to Gomez back in 2017 after the singer/actress suffered lupus-related organ damage. But their tight bond was tested late last year when Raisa — an actress on How I Met Your Father, Grown-ish and The Secret Life of the American Teenager — took issue with a comment Gomez made about another high-profile friend, Taylor Swift.
In a Rolling Stone cover story released in November, Gomez opened up about feeling like she “never fit in with a cool group of girls that were celebrities,” adding, “My only friend in the industry really is Taylor, so I remember feeling like I didn’t belong.”
“Interesting,” Raisa replied under an Instagram post resharing Gomez’s quote, in a now-deleted comment.
On a TikTok video summarizing the drama — which noted that Raisa was no longer following Gomez on Instagram — the Only Murders in the Building star commented, “Sorry I didn’t mention every person I know.”
In May, Raisa opened up to TMZ about the online bullying she’s faced since her back-and-forth with Gomez, telling a cameraman, “The only thing I’m going to say is in no way, shape or form does anyone condone bullying, especially Selena. She literally has a whole nonprofit dedicated to mental health [Rare Impact Fund], and I believe Rare Beauty even just had an event for mental health. So the fact that I’m now being bullied as I am, it’s messing with me mentally.”
As of press time, Raisa hadn’t yet acknowledged Gomez’s birthday post, but she seemed busy celebrating her big day in a poolside cabana, as evidenced on her Instagram. “If I’m not in a bikini on my birthday then it’s not my birthday,” she captioned three pics of herself in an orange string bikini and white eyelet coverup.
See Gomez’s post below:
