Selena Gomez has announced that she is unable to carry a child due to ongoing health problems, meaning that becoming pregnant would pose a risk to both herself and the fetus.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the Only Murders in the Building actress and former Disney star said she planned to start a family by her 35th birthday.

“I never said this, but unfortunately I cannot carry children of my own,” she said. “I have many health problems that would endanger my life and that of the baby. It was something I had to grieve for a while.”

The 32-year-old did not specify what medical issue she was dealing with in the interview, but she had previously spoken publicly about being diagnosed with lupus, a disease in which the immune system attacks its own tissues and organs, in 2015. A year later, she was also diagnosed with anxiety and depression, which can be linked to both lupus and some medications she takes to treat the disease.

Gomez underwent a kidney transplant in 2017 due to lupus. In 2020, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after experiencing a psychotic episode during which she heard voices and felt suicidal.

In 2022, she told Rolling Stone that having to continue taking two specific medications for her bipolar disorder could potentially prevent her from being able to have a safe pregnancy. “This is a very big, big, present thing in my life,” she said at the time.

Gomez has also said that she is open to adoption, in part because her own mother was adopted.

“I probably wouldn’t be here,” Gomez told Vanity Fair, if her mother hadn’t been adopted. “I don’t know how her life would have turned out. She and I are very grateful for the way life turned out.”

Gomez told Vanity Fair that she may still be able to become a mother through adoption or surrogacy. “It’s not necessarily the way I imagined it would happen. I thought it would happen the way it happens to everyone,” she said. “(But) I feel much better about this. I feel blessed that there are wonderful people who are willing to do surrogacy or adoption, which are both great options for me.”

“I’m really grateful for the other options for people who really want to be mothers. I’m one of those people. I’m excited to see what that journey will look like, but it’s going to look a little different. At the end of the day, I don’t care. It’s going to be mine. It’s going to be my baby.”

• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline can be contacted on 13 11 14. In the USA, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be contacted on 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. For more international suicide hotlines, visit befrienders.org