What We KnowGetting Real! Francia Raisa’s Honest Quotes About Her Rocky Friendship With Selena Gomez

‘Forever Friend’

While they may not be related, the two often call each other “sis” throughout their entire friendship.

“When we first met you gave me a necklace that says ‘a sister is a forever friend’ your support and words this night meant the world to me. I love you sis! My forever friend,” Francia wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post from 2014.

On Giving Her a Kidney

Both Selena and Francia opened up about the surgery during an interview on TODAY in 2017.

“One day [Selena] came home and she was emotional. I hadn’t asked anything. I knew she hadn’t been feeling well,” Francia recalled. “She couldn’t open a water bottle one day. She chucked it and she started crying. And I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ and that’s when she told me. And she goes, ‘I don’t know what to do. The list is seven to ten years long.’ It just vomited out of me: I was like, ‘Of course I’ll get tested.’”

Selena Has Been a ‘Huge Help’

“Selena has been a huge help in my career,” Francia told  Rogue magazine in 2018. “I’ve seen her grow and she’s seen me grow and we have a lot of conversations about the industry. In seeing how much she has to go through … I’ve learned a lot myself, and so I’m really grateful to her and what she’s confided in me and taught me.”

Bad Blood?

Francia, for her part, addressed rumors that there’s bad blood between herself and Selena saying, “There’s no beef, there’s salsa,” when appearing on the “Good Guys” podcast in August 2023.

“She and I went public with our situation years ago and honestly we had to. The press got a hold of the story and we wanted to tell it,” Francia said of the kidney transplant. “As for what’s going on lately, does anyone prep you for this kind of stuff? Never. We never get prepped for this kind of stuff. It always catches me by surprise. I don’t know if it’s good or not. … No one forced me to do anything. It came out of the genuine kindness of my heart.”

How They Met

Francia recalled how she initially met Selena some 16 years ago during an interview with ExtraTV in October 2023.

“When I was on ‘Secret Life of the American Teenager’… she was on ‘Wizards of Waverly Place.’ Disney had the stars of their shows go to Children’s Hospital and visit all the kids… She was in my group. She came up to me and was like, ‘My mom had a teenage pregnancy, she was 16 years old, and we love your show.’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God, thank you! I love your show.’ We started talking, we both had boyfriends at the time, we started kiki-ing… Around the time that my boyfriend and I broke up, and her and her boyfriend broke up, she called me and was like, ‘I am going through some stuff… I am going through a breakup.’ I was like, ‘Girl, me, too,’ and we were just inseparable after that ever since.”

Selena Is Like a ‘Little Sister’

During her interview with ExtraTV at Selena’s inaugural Rare Impact Fund Benefit in October 2023, she reflected on their “rocky” journey together.

“We trauma-bonded, which is beautiful, but also it can get rocky and tricky … People grow, relationships change. Obviously, I treat her like my little sister, she treats me like her older sister… I don’t know any relationship that’s perfect… When our situation came up… No, I never pictured that, but obviously I never regretted it. I am happy that we are here today, celebrating and supporting each other.”

Francia explained that sometimes “people need to spend time apart in order to grow.”

“We had to almost go on our own journey and grow… I am really happy in my career now and my endeavor. I don’t know if I would be able to do that if I didn’t really take some time for myself and figure out what the hell was going on with me, because I wasn’t okay,” she explained.

“I am okay now, and just for the record, it had nothing to do with the kidney,” she added.

“I went through a lot in my childhood and I will be talking about it very soon… She has been such a huge support through all of that.”