Fans Think Jocelyn From "The Idol" — Which Is Co-Created By The Weeknd — Was Inspired By Selena Gomez's Life. Here Are 9 Uncanny Similarities.

Fans Think Jocelyn From "The Idol" — Which Is Co-Created By The Weeknd — Was Inspired By Selena Gomez's Life. Here Are 9 Uncanny Similarities.,"<i>The Idol</i> is probably just The Weeknd's Selena Gomez fanfic."

Fans Think Jocelyn From “The Idol” — Which Is Co-Created By The Weeknd — Was Inspired By Selena Gomez’s Life. Here Are 9 Uncanny Similarities.

Earlier this month, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and Abel Tesfaye, otherwise known as The Weeknd, released their anticipated, co-created HBO series The Idol. The show has been hit with heavy criticism left and right, but the most unexpected side eyes come from those who feel the show is loosely inspired by events in a familiar pop star’s life.

Selena famously held her breakout role as Alex Russo on Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place, and Joss’s past acting gig remains unnamed but crucial to her origin story.

2. As Joss grew to fame, she and her mother had a tumultuous relationship that crossed the line into abuse. And while Selena Gomez has certainly never suggested that her mother physically harmed her in any way, their relationship has seen ups and downs.

In the past, Selena’s mother vocalized her disapproval of Selena’s relationship with singer Justin Bieber, as well as her working relationship with director Woody Allen after she was cast in his movie A Rainy Day in New York.

“No one can make Selena do anything she doesn’t want to. I had a long talk with her about not working with [Allen] and it didn’t click,” Selena’s mother wrote in an Instagram post in January 2018. “Her team are amazing people. There is no fall person here. No one controls her. She makes all her own decisions. No matter how hard you try to advise. It falls on deaf ears.”

3. In 2016, Selena Gomez canceled the last few months of her Revival world tour, citing struggles with “anxiety, panic attacks, and depression” following her lupus diagnosis. Likewise, viewers learn in the first episode of The Idol that Joss recently canceled her own world tour after her mother’s passing, and she plans to make a comeback throughout the series.

4. Selena’s own comeback following her cancellation includes the music video for her song “Bad Liar,” which controversially included shots of the star rolling around a bed with a hospital bracelet on. In The Idol, Joss poses for a return-to-the-limelight cover story in lingerie and a hospital bracelet.

5. Selena’s song “Bad Liar” also received a few side eyes for featuring “moaning sounds,” which one blog referred to as “whiny, orgasmic noise,” before commenting, “Nothing says try-hard like a randomly placed moan.” In The Idol, The Weeknd’s character, Tedros, coerces Joss into delivering real moans on a song that was recorded while the two were intimate.

6. One of the most heartbreaking scenes in the show includes a moment when Tedros manipulates Joss into starting a live video where she tells fans she wants to be real with them about what’s going on in her life. During her monologue, she touches on harmful headlines in the media and says she “wants to make a promise” that she’s “not going to let the trauma of my past affect the person I want to be moving forward.”

Yeah this man is actually evil toward Selena Gomez. Regardless of how cringey The Idol is, this is just too much to write off.. https://t.co/dUc7hTUPlN pic.twitter.com/NkiinWTxen

— antagonistic nightmare ♀ (@toxicexgf) June 28, 2023Twitter: @toxicexgf

As shown above, some fans have spliced this scene with an Instagram Live that Selena did in the past where she says, “I’m private so much because I’m terrified of what these magazines are going to say about me,” and she promises to “be the best version of myself” during the next phase of her life.

Both Selena and Joss also say they’re portrayed as “chaotic” or “going crazy” for their choice of using Live to share their message, but double down on their decision to do so.