Selena Gomez faced a life-threatening surgical complication almost immediately after her kidney transplant last year, Entertainment Tonight revealed.
The singer’s friend and kidney donor, Francia Raisa, told W Magazine about the ordeal.
“She could have died,” 29-year-old “Grown-ish” actress Raisa said.
Raise said she recalled waking up from her donor surgery a few hours later to find a text from Gomez that said, “I’m really scared.”
“My kidney was very active, and when it turned I broke an artery,” Raisa quoted Gomez.
“They had to take her into emergency surgery and get a vein from her leg and build a new artery to keep my kidney in place.”
Raisa has also been candid about the difficult recovery process she endured after the surgery.
“I didn’t want to eat, I didn’t want to drink anything,” she told W Magazine, adding that her first audition for “Grown-ish” came two weeks after the surgery and was a difficult feat, even though she eventually clinched the part.
“I walked in and was in so much pain,” she said, adding that she could not even open the door.
Raisa and Gomez opted to keep news of the operation under wrap because of the difficult recovery, Sky News reported.
“We went through a depression at the time,” she said.
News of the surgery was finally made public via an Instagram post showing the two friends holding hands in separate beds.
“I’m very aware some of my fans had noticed I was laying low for part of the summer and questioning why I wasn’t promoting my new music, which I was extremely proud of,” Gomez said.
“So I found out I needed to get a kidney transplant due to my Lupus and was recovering.”
Despite the hardships, the pair are in full recovery and their lives are now back on track.