Selena Gomez got emotional during a new interview for the Today show while talking about her kidney transplant earlier this year, and how much it meant to her to have friend Francia Raisa be her donor.
“My kidneys were just done,” she said in a preview clip for the interview, which will air Monday. “That was it and I didn’t want to ask a single person in my life. And she volunteered and did it.”
On the Today show, host Savannah Guthrie asked matter-of-factly, “You feel that Francia saved your life.”
“Because she did. That’s it,” Gomez responded with tears in her eyes. “I guess I got to the point where it was really, kind of, life or death.”
Gomez surprised fans last month when she revealed that, over the summer, she secretly underwent a kidney transplant due to her lupus diagnosis, which she announced back in 2015.
“It was what I needed to do for my overall health,” she captioned a series of photos to Instagram at the time. “I honestly look forward to sharing with you, soon my journey through these past several months as I have always wanted to do with you.”
One of the photos that Gomez shared was of her and Raisa lying in adjoining hospital beds and holding hands. Actress Raisa, a longtime friend of Gomez, is best known for her role in the ABC Family show The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
“She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me,” Gomez wrote. “I am incredibly blessed.”
