Selena Gomez‘s close friend Raquelle Stevens wants to tell you something you don’t know.
Three months after the release of the singer’s My Mind & Me documentary—which featured footage of Selena’s friendship with the Sunshine Mind author—Raquelle is finally responding to critics.
“Anytime you do anything public in life, you’re subject to opinions of other people,” Raquelle said during a Feb. 3 appearance on the Chicks in the Office podcast. “You just don’t even go there if you’re not willing to be able to take the heat, but the biggest thing for me was that the documentary was a beautiful, beautiful piece of work that Selena so vulnerably shared with the world.
As the 30-year-old noted, “It was her life story, and part of what was included in that documentary was our friendship, which is special and it’s honest, and it’s real.”
Shortly after the film was released in November 2022, Raquelle faced criticism from fans online who called the author “dismissive” and “controlling” during their interactions.