Singer and actress Selena Gomez announced her engagement to boyfriend Benny Blanco in a social media post on Wednesday to the excitement of her legions of fans.
“Forever begins now,” Gomez, 32, wrote in a caption to four images, including one of a her wearing a hefty engagement ring and one of the couple embracing. The couple went public with their relationship in December 2023.
Gomez is one of the most popular figures on Instagram, where she has 432 million followers, and the post has already been liked 8.3 million times and generated comments from various celebrity friends, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston.
Music producer Blanco, 36, commented: “hey wait… that’s my wife.”
Taylor Swift, who just finished her record-breaking Eras tour, commented: “yes I will be the flower girl.”
Gomez said in an interview in November that due to medical complications she can’t carry her own children. While she didn’t go into details, she has received a kidney transplant and has had chemotherapy for lupus.
“I haven’t ever said this but I unfortunately can’t carry my own children,” Gomez told Vanity Fair. “I have a lot of medical issues that would put my life and the baby’s in jeopardy. That was something I had to grieve for a while.”
Although she did not go into detail about the complications that would make it difficult for her to safely carry her own children, she has undergone chemotherapy to treat her lupus and required a kidney transplant in 2017.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease. The immune system attacks the body and causes several complications, including organ damage, according to the Mayo Clinic.
According to the Lupus Foundation of America successful pregnancies for people with lupus are possible, but they come with increased complication risks. These complications include kidney problems, blood clots, high blood pressure, which can lead to preeclampsia, and increased risk of stillbirth.