In 2018, she and her longstanding on-again, off-again lover Justin Bieber called it quits.

In a podcast appearance on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast on Monday, Selena Gomez claimed she was’really proud’ of how the stormy relationship made her more mature.

The Only Murders In The Building star, 29, claimed that focusing on herself helped her speak up for her own demands.’It allowed me to create a persona where I don’t tolerate any form of foolishness or disrespect,’ she added of her split from Bieber, 28, who married model Hailey Bieber only months after their split in 2018.

Selena first felt unmoored after the breakup, despite the fact that she is more secure in her role in the entertainment sector now.’I was going through a really difficult split, obviously, and then I was left with the question of my career and where am I going to go and what’s going to happen,’ she explained.

Her lupus condition, which necessitated a kidney transplant in 2017, a year before the breakup, complicated matters even more.’And then my medical things sort of kicked in, but to be honest, being on the other side of that has actually been really wonderful for me,’ she admitted.The actress and singer is now earning some of her greatest reviews for her Hulu comedy series Only Murders In The Building, in which she co-stars with comic veterans Steve Martin and Martin Short. 

She not only stars in the mystery series, but she also acts as one of its executive producers, alongside Martin and Short, whom she credits with inspiring her on set and pushing her to expect more from her own collaborators.

‘Being around two mature gentlemen — because that’s what they are, extremely nice and kind and hilarious and inappropriate at times and it’s the best — I just learned so much,’ she exclaimed. ‘And my expectation for a man, or any human, to be as decent as these two human beings is. They’ve been doing it longer than I’ve been alive, and they’re the nicest people you’ll ever meet.’

Selena also shared a funny story about playing Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s racy single WAP for the older comedians.

‘It was hilarious. They weren’t outraged; they were simply perplexed. “So wait, do women like this?” they wondered. “Yeah, I guess it’s a thing, you know, it’s a vibe, I don’t know,” I said. ‘They’re hilarious,’ she said.

‘It was vital for me to walk through those things because I needed to do a lot of soul searching,’ Selena concluded. ‘By no means do I have life figured out, but I do know that I learned so much about myself throughout that period.’

The Spring Breakers star isn’t looking for new partnerships after the upheaval of her medical troubles and romantic life.

‘I find my tolerance for any kind of pain, generally rudeness or whatever, even just unneeded stuff,’ she stated.