Selena Gomez says Justin Bieber was her first love, and boy was that a turbulent ride, but she sees the scars and bruises he left her with as a positive.
Emotional scars and bruises, that is. He's no Chris Brown.
The 22-year-old Gomez's topless V Magazine cover certainly raised a lot of eyebrows, and her comments in the accompanying article will raise even more ...
She tells V that even though she's moving on, she and Justin will always be linked in people's minds, and that's just part of love in the public eye:
"I was 18 years old, and it was my first love. The older I get, I'm guarding certain things more. After being put through the scrutiny, I understand what it is."
"When you're young and you're being told so many different things ... it almost felt like all we had was each other, like the world was against us, in a way."
"It was really weird but it was incredible. I would never take it back in a million years," the singer and actress reflects. "You live and you learn, you know?"
We do. And apparently, she finally does, as well.
Gomez looks to have finally turned the page with Zedd in recent months, and while she won't dish on that topic specifically, she says she's in a great place.
"I think this year is going to be incredible, I feel the best I've ever felt in my life, but I mean, your 20s, good God," she says, alluding again to Bieber:
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"I'm super stoked that I've got some bumps on me, some scars and some bruises. I actually really love that. And I don't mean that in a morbid way."
"It was great to experience really beautiful things, and then [to] have the growing pains, in every possible manner, in every relationship," she adds.
"There was so much going on. You can't help but have troubles here and there. I don't think it's a smooth process for anyone, and it definitely wasn't for me."
Of keeping to herself and inside her house, Gomez adds, "There were a few months where I was a little depressed, where I wouldn't leave as much."
"I love my home, it's a nice house and it's the first home I've owned, so I have a music room and I have a nice kitchen and I kind of just stayed put for a while."
"I think I drove myself crazy. My response was to stay in. That's what I was trying to fix this year, I'm finally getting a little bit more comfortable. It's a process."
Well, here's hoping she succeeds in that process, whatever it entails, and that our girl can finally turn the page from this train wreck once and for all:
Is everything as happy-go-lucky as it seems here between Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez? Rumors sprung up in the summer of 2012 that placed this relationship on the rocks.
