Not since the heyday of Frida Kahlo has a pair of eyebrows generated this much controversy. Okay, maybe it’s not that serious, but still. Selena Gomez’s eyebrows have become a bigger deal than anyone expected. And a feud between her and Hailey Bieber (and maybe even Kylie Jenner) over eyebrows was not on anyone’s 2023 Bingo Card.

The Hailey Bieber/Selena Gomez beef is already weeks old

The whole thing is already a weeks-old ordeal, but nobody wants to let it go. Not yet, at least. If you’re unfamiliar with Brow-gate, here are the bullet points. Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber reportedly don’t like each other much for obvious reasons. Both women dated Justin Bieber, but the latter ended up marrying him.

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Now, it’s not necessarily fair to suggest that Gomez and Mrs. Bieber dislike each other simply because of a man they both dated. There are plenty of notable women staying friends despite dating the same man. But…that’s kind of what happened.

The two appeared to forge some kind of truce late last year after insisting for some time that everything between them was all good and always had been. They made the move to publicly say something because of Hailey Bieber’s controversial appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.

Host Alex Cooper asked Bieber to address rumors that she stole Bieber from Gomez towards the end of their relationship. The stories initially cropped up when Justin and Hailey started publicly dating very soon after he and Gomez ended their relationship.

To end the rumors once and for all, Bieber and Gomez posed for a couple of photos at a gala for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in October 2022. As for Bieber’s response on the podcast? “I can say, period, point blank, I was never with him when he was in a relationship with anybody,” she said.

Things with Gomez and Bieber are messier than they look…

The problem with that story is the timeline with Justin, Hailey, and Gomez is pretty messy. He essentially dated both women back and forth between 2014 and 2018 after meeting Hailey in 2009. Hailey publicly supported Bieber’s relationship with Gomez but began dating Bieber after they met again at a church in 2014.

They dated until 2016 the first time around. Soon after, Justin started seeing Gomez again for a few months before they broke up again. Justin and Hailey reunited soon after and married each other in September 2018. So, yeah. It’s a little messy. And honestly, a feud between them wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

So, with all of that in mind, let’s fast forward to January 2023. Paparazzi images showed the 30-year-old pop star wearing a bikini while on vacation in Mexico. Of course, people began tearing apart her appearance and criticizing her weight, which Gomez previously discussed on TikTok regarding her bipolar diagnosis.

“We have days where maybe we feel like shit, but I would much rather be healthy and take care of myself,” she said. “My medications are important, and I believe they are what helps me.”

In (alleged) response to the wave of body shaming that resulted from the recent paparazzi images, Hailey Bieber posted a TikTok alongside Kendall Jenner and Justine Skye. The trio lip-synced along to the phrase, “I’m not saying she deserves it, but I’m saying God’s timing is always right.”

However, people are still trying to decipher if the shade is intentional…

Of course, assumptions immediately started running wild all across the internet. For many, it seemed obvious that Bieber was attempting to throw shade at Gomez, while others chalked it up to coincidence. There’s even a TikTok that attempts to decipher the messaging behind Bieber’s TikTok.

Bieber immediately denied the accusations that she was throwing shade at Gomez. “I never comment on this type of thing, but we were just having a girl’s night and made a random TikTok sound for fun. It’s not directed at anyone,” she commented on the video.

Gomez commented on the now-deleted video, writing, “It’s okay! I don’t let these things get me down! Be nice to everyone!” A different TikTok video breaks down this interaction in a bit more detail.

Around the same time, Gomez posted a picture of her eyebrows and wrote, jokingly, “Accidentally laminated my brows too much.” Soon after, Kylie Jenner posted an Instagram story of her eyebrows with the caption, “This was an accident????”

If that weren’t enough, she also posted a screenshot of her Facetiming Hailey with both cameras zoomed in on their eyebrows. Again, they all claim it was an unfortunate coincidence. Gomez agrees with them publicly, but nobody’s buying it, as evidenced by this breakdown of the situation.

Everyone (including Gomez) is denying all of the rumors…until they don’t

Weeks into this ongoing feud, social media users continued fanning the flames to the point that those allegedly responsible started chiming in. For instance, Kylie Jenner responded to the TikTok above about how and why the shade thrown at Gomez was intentional.

“This is reaching,” she commented on the video. “No shade towards Selena ever, and I didn’t see her eyebrow posts! You guys are making something out of nothing. This is silly.” Gomez agreed, writing, “It’s all unnecessary. I’m a fan of Kylie!”

This may be true, but we don’t know if Gomez would say the same about Hailey Bieber. After the “friendly” interaction with Jenner, Gomez wrote a comment underneath a video of Bieber pretending to gag after someone mentions Taylor Swift.

Gomez wrote, “So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game.” Gomez also commented on another TikTok accusing Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner of being nepo-babies. There, she simply wrote, “I love you.”

Eventually, all of the drama just became too much for Gomez. She apparently decided to be the bigger person because, after all these little comments and hints of thrown shade, Selena went on TikTok Live to clear some things up and update her fans on the situation. Well, her situation.

“I’m so blessed. I have the best friends, the best fans in the whole world, and I just couldn’t be happier. I’m good,” she said. “I love who I am. And, yeah. I’m gonna be taking a second from social media ’cause it’s… this is a little silly.” She added, “I’m 30. I’m too old for this.”

Soon after, she captioned her most recent Instagram post with “taking a break from social media” and briefly deactivated her TikTok before reactivating it a few days later.

A few notable names are chiming in…

Even if Gomez is done with the feud (for now), that hasn’t stopped anyone else from weighing in. A couple of notable names are throwing their hats into the ring. Jordyn Woods, a former friend of Kylie Jenner and current friend of Selena Gomez, didn’t have to say a single word.

Instead, she posted a video of herself using Gomez’s Rare Beauty lip liner with the caption, “Love this lip liner.” Of course, Kylie runs a successful makeup brand with her own line of popular lip liners. Seeing that Woods and Jenner were once close friends, nothing about this video seems accidental.

Elsewhere, a popular content creator on TikTok who goes by @naominaszzz offered to beat Jenner and Bieber up on Gomez’s behalf. She explains that she understands Selena Gomez is not from the streets. However, that won’t stop her from doing what needs to be done.

@naominaszzz

And I said what I said #selenagomez #love #fyp #viral @Selena Gomez 💖🫶

♬ original sound – Naominaszzz