Fans think there's a sweet reason behind those Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez’s pictures

A picture paints a thousand words and Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez just posed for the most iconic ‘truce’ pic ever

Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber pictured at the 2nd Annual Academy Museum Gala at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on October 15, 2022 / in a pink background
(Image credit: Getty Images / Steve Granitz/FilmMagic/Jon Kopaloff / Stringer)

'Jelena' and 'Jailey' fans, it’s time to shake hands because Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez just put an end to years of ‘feud’ rumors with a single photograph—well, three to be exact. Yes, Justin Bieber’s ex and his wife were pictured posing and thriving together and the fans' theory behind their photo op is pretty damn sweet.

If you’re new to the Hailey Bieber/Selena Gomez/Justin Bieber saga, (where have you been?!), there’s been discourse around their relationship timelines for YEARS—with Hailey being subject to truly cruel and non-stop trolling since her engagement to Justin, given Justin and Selena used to be an item. 

Recently though, the pioneer of 'Glazed Donut' nails went viral for appearing on the Call Her Daddy Podcast to debunk all the rumors that there was, first of all, any overlap and secondly, that she and Selena had beef.

Now, in a moment for the pop culture history books, Hailey and Selena were pictured embracing at the Academy Museum Gala—something Belieber fans never thought would come to fruition—and fans think they’ve sussed out why.

In one TikTok video, user @devoltedly.yours theorized that the snaps could be in response to when Call Her Daddy’s host, Alex Cooper asked Hailey if Selena had ever tried to defend her, by maybe leaving a ‘heart’ emoji comment or something to that effect.

@devotedly.yours

♬ original sound - Nuha

In the interview, Hailey responded no, adding that Selena doesn’t owe her anything like that. However, following the release of the podcast, Hailey was again subject to droves of hateful comments and messages—to which Selena did actually respond and condemn.

She said during a TikTok live: “I think some of the things that I don't even need to be aware of are just vile and disgusting. It's not fair. No one should ever be spoken to in the manner that I've seen and all I have to say is it's incredibly ironic that I would release [a Rare Beauty product] that is all about kind words, 'cause that's exactly what I want.”

Sadly though, the hate didn’t stop. “So what does the Queen do?” says @devoltedly.yours, “she says Ima take a photo with her. Matter of fact, Ima take another photo with her—actually how about a third photo where I’m loving up on her—because there’s no beef!”

@olivialayne6

♬ Look At Her Now - Selena Gomez

User @olivialayne6 also added that the pictures are trying to ‘tell everyone to put your weapons down’ and is also a very smart PR move, what with Selena’s documentary on the horizon. Plus it gets the internet talking about them, hopefully in a positive way—which is, of course, great for their brands Rare and Rhode. A potential collab one day?

So to mark this internet-shattering event, here are a few of our favorite reactions…

The best reactions to the Hailey Bieber and Selena Gomez pictures

Another ‘Halena’ fan (yes, we did that) dubbed it a ‘pop-culture’ miracle on TikTok and we couldn’t agree more…

@simplysimone

♬ original sound - Simone Umba

 While Twitter was whipped into an all-out frenzy… 

We're so here for the world's 'healing era'!

Naomi Jamieson
Lifestyle News Writer

Naomi is a Lifestyle News Writer with the Women's Lifestyle team, where she covers everything from entertainment to fashion and beauty, as well as TikTok trends for Woman&Home, after previously writing for My Imperfect Life and GoodTo. Interestingly though, Naomi actually has a background in design, having studied illustration at Plymouth University but lept into the media world in 2020, after always having a passion for writing and earned her Gold Standard diploma in Journalism with the NCTJ.

Before working for Future Publishing’s Lifestyle News team, she worked in the Ad production team. Here she wrote and designed adverts on all sorts of things, which then went into print magazines across all genres. Now, when she isn’t writing articles on celebs, fashion trends, or the newest shows on Netflix, you can find her drinking copious cups of coffee, drawing and probably online shopping.