Singer Selena Gomez Arrives at the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscars Party in West Hollywood
Her grandfather Ricardo Gomez told the press that the young pop star was suffering from lupus since several years but is getting along well with the treatments. REUTERS

Selena Gomez has come out as a smart and a motivational person in the recent speech she gave about her decision to get into a rehab. The 21-year-old singer took the stage at the "We Day" conference in Oakland, California, on Thursday (March 26), and for the very first time spoke on the reason why she had to go to a rehab in January. The "Come and Get it" singer almost choked while delivering her speech where she admitted how she "lost sight of herself" and gave in to peer pressure.

"We Day" is a movement where inspirational people are called upon to share their life-changing experiences with the youth so that the others could learn from them. Selena took this opportunity to tell her fans that they should be just themselves and not give in to the peer pressure to look good and wear clothes according to their choices. Rather a person should never change his or her innate nature.

"I am not an activist. I haven't changed the world or led a campaign," Selena said at the conference, which you can see below. "I'm here to just tell you my path so that you can hopefully take something away from it because I don't like being honest with press and interviews. I like being honest with you directly," she continued.

The Texas-born singer then went on to explain how she feels lucky to be surrounded by her family, especially her mother who gave her most honest advice "to always trust in yourself."

"I'm surrounded by people who are supposed to guide me and some of them have and others haven't," she told We Day attendees. "They pressure me, [saying] 'You gotta be sexy, you gotta be cute, you gotta be nice, you gotta be all these things.' You can all relate. You all have pressure that you have to deal with every day—with school, with work, with friends, with parents, with family. They tell me what to wear, how to look, what I should say, how I should be."

The singer then admitted that she gave in to the peer pressure and tried to change according to society. She wanted to be accepted in the society; hence, she listened to others. But during the journey, she lost her true self.

"Until recently, I had given into that pressure, I lost sight of who I was," she revealed to the audience. "I listened to opinions of people and I tried to change who I am because I thought others would accept me for it. And I realized I don't know how to be anything but myself," an emotional Selena said.

Selena also choked up during her speech when she admitted that she has made mistakes in the past but has learned from them and moved on in her life now. The singer then told the audience that they all should endeavour to change the world by being good to each other.

"All I really want you to know is that you are changing the world, I'm not changing the world, you're changing the world and that's amazing," she said. "Please just be kind to each other and love and inspire people, because... Let's do it, let's change the game! The most important thing is that we learn and we continue to learn from each other. Please stay true to each other and know that we have each others' backs; all of us have each other's back," she continued.

Watch Selena's speech below:

(Credit: YouTube/SelenaCrazyLove)