Selena Gomez Cries “Grateful Tears” On Her 27th Birthday

On Monday, July 22nd, Selena Gomez turned 27. After serving as the maid of honor in her cousin Priscilla DeLeon’s Texas wedding last week (in an emotional speech, she thanked the bride for teaching her to “be strong”), she jetted off to Italy for a vacation. She was first spotted lunching in Rome with friends and her maternal grandmother, Debbie Jean Gibson. She also headed to Capri, the stunning island getaway in the Bay of Naples.

Last night, July 24th, Gomez shared a gorgeous photo on Instagram, thanking fans for their birthday wishes. In the snap she’s smiling on a Roman balcony against a pink sunset, wearing a white frilly dress. She looks so happy!

“Well I’m 27 now,” she wrote. “I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your words on my bday. Not just the quick notes. The thought that goes behind every word you write usually ends up with me crying grateful tears like I did last night. Praying for all of you!! I LOVE YOU.”

As of press time, the post had well over nine million likes.

This year, Gomez took a step back from Instagram for the sake of her mental health. “It is not that healthy to be on it all the time because I noticed with me, I got kind of depressed looking at these people who look beautiful and amazing, and it would just get me down a lot so I just think taking breaks is really important,” she said while a guest on the Coach podcast series, Dream it Real. “But just know that most of it isn’t real.”

“And I hate to say that, I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s very unrealistic in a lot of ways, and I think that for me, I want to protect the youngest generation because they are exposed to so much information, and I feel like that causes a lot of anxiety at the youngest age,” she continued. “Like, I didn’t grow up with that. I had dial-up internet. I think that sometimes people are exposed to too much, and you should really protect what you’re seeing and be mindful, be really mindful of how it makes you feel.”