Selena: "I've Never Had A Problem With Drinking"

Selena Gomez isn't holding back. If 2015 is the "Good For You" singer's year, her upcoming album Revival — which drops on Oct. 9 — is basically serving as her re-birth. In addition to revealing her lupus diagnosis and chemotherapy treatment in a refreshingly candid and no-holds-barred interview with Billboard, Gomez also addressed various rumors about herself (including her supposed "drinking problem" and her relationship with Justin Bieber), opened up about her insecurities — and how she finally found her voice.

While it was Gomez's powerful revelation that she was suffering from lupus that made headline after headline, the singer also openly addressed difficult topics, including her "rock bottom," her relationship with Bieber, her insecurities — and how she dealt with body-shaming haters. Gomez's honest responses may have put her in a vulnerable position, but it also shows her in a new, powerful light.

Despite bogus reports that claimed Gomez had issues with alcohol, the singer silenced that nonsense with one simple sentence and a move that was essentially a giant middle finger to anyone saying otherwise.

"I don't have a drinking problem," Gomez explained, taking a sip of the Billboard reporter's drink. (She also noted in the interview that "wine is usually involved" during her nights in with bestie Taylor Swift. Duh.)

Gomez also spoke about her current relationship with Justin Bieber (they're on "good terms," but no, they "no longer speak," which sounds like a pretty healthy breakup if you ask me) and addressed particularly painful insecurities, revealing that she used to be super self-conscious about her husky voice and just how hard the body-shaming critics were on her.

"I was in a bikini and got publicly ripped for being overweight," the actress remembered, bringing up paparazzi shots of her in a two-piece. "That was the first time I'd experienced body shaming like that. I believed some of the words they were saying. When somebody else has your self-esteem in their hands," she trailed off in the video. It's an awful thing to feel vulnerable, to feel picked apart, to feel "on display" when it seems like just about everyone is trying to tear you down — but there is a beauty in the vulnerability, and particularly in Gomez's decision to discuss these difficult moments. It's honest. It's real. It's (unfortunately) relatable. And though she is well-aware that being so candid could hurt her later on, she still chooses to speak about it.

After a particularly low point in 2013 — relieving her mom from her position as her manager was "awkward," Gomez said — the actress told Billboard that things got really difficult.

"I felt like I'd lost everything. Just because it's not plastered everywhere doesn't mean I didn’t have my rock bottom," she explained. "I've had my moments, and it’s almost unsafe for me to even talk about them, because I’ll be taken advantage of."

Though being so vulnerable leaves her open to criticism, Gomez is fully aware that now is the time to speak out.

"If I did half the things guys did, I wouldn't have a Pantene deal," she told the magazine about sexism in the industry. "There's a certain standard women are held to because... I don't know. So many women nowadays are so loud about it. We need to cause a bit of uproar, because I've seen it. I've experienced it. It's absurd."

Preach it, girl.

Images: Giphy