Selena Gomez Covers Billboard, discusses having lupus disease

Selena Gomez, 23, revealed her battle with the autoimmune disease in a candid interview with Billboard

In a candid interview with Billboard ahead of the Friday release of her second solo studio album Revival, the singer, 23, revealed she has undergone chemotherapy treatment to alleviate the symptoms of lupus.

 She said

'That’s what my break was really about. I could’ve had a stroke,' Gomez said of her time spent out of the spotlight after cancelling the Australian and Asian leg of her tour in December 2013. 

'I wanted so badly to say, "You guys have no idea. I’m in chemotherapy. You’re a**holes",' she told Billboard.

'I locked myself away until I was confident and comfortable again,' she added.

'I'm so f***ing nice to everybody and everyone is so vile to me,' she told Billboard.

'I’ve been working since I was 7. I’ve been a UNICEF ambassador since I was 17. It’s so disappointing that I’ve become a tabloid story,' she said.

Lupus causes the human body to turn on its own healthy tissue because something goes wrong with the immune system preventing it from telling the difference between that and germs and viruses that enter the system from outside.

The disease can cause inflammation, swelling of joints, extreme fatigue, headaches, chest pain and hair loss and can range form mild to chronic and life-threatening.