Selena Gomez Says She Has Arthritis from Lupus — and It Influenced the Packaging for Her Beauty Brand

Selena Gomez is sharing how she arrived at easy, accessible packaging for her beauty brand.

The Rare Beauty founder, 33, revealed on the Sept. 9 Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast that she struggles with arthritis from lupus and said her lack of dexterity ended up influencing the packaging of her beauty products.

“I have arthritis in my fingers, and that’s due to my lupus,” Gomez shared. “So, I remember before the brand, I was trying to open a water bottle and it hurt really bad before I was on the right medication.” 

“And we somehow inherently made the products easy to open, and then we realized, wait — they kind of have to be that way,” she explained. “And then we started to make every product with the intention of [working for] anybody who [has] dexterity problems.”

Gomez launched the brand in September 2020, and it reportedly reached a $2 billion valuation in 2024. It was praised online for its accessible products and applauded again with the August launch of Rare Beauty’s new perfume. Unlike typical perfume bottles, there is no cap to remove. Instead, it dispenses the scent with a button that can be toggled from locked to unlocked, then pushed. It’s something that makes Gomez especially proud.

“I know that might seem like a little thing, but it’s really not because it’s actually so helpful for anyone at any age to be able to use the products,” the actress said. “And that’s why we want to make them easy and accessible, because it’s important to me and it always [has] been.”

“So, even down to our fragrance, the pump is very easy for me to use,” she added.

In 2013, the Only Murders in the Building star was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic disease that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs that has no cure, per Mayo Clinic.

Since then, she has opened up about the difficulties she faced while dealing with lupus, especially in the documentary My Mind & Me. During one scene, she shared, “Now it just hurts in the morning. When I wake up, [I] immediately start crying because it hurts — like everything.”

In 2023, amid public scrutiny for her weight, the Wizards of Waverly Place star revealed on social media that taking the medication often causes her to gain weight and vice versa.

“I just want people to know that you’re beautiful, and you’re wonderful. Yeah, we have days where maybe we feel like s—, but I would rather be healthy and take care of myself. My medications are important, and I believe that they’re what helps me,” she said at the time.