What People Are Misunderstanding This Week: Is Selena Gomez a Clone?
Today I spent more time than I’d like to admit researching Selena Gomez. The 33-year-old pop singer and star of the series ” Only Murders in the Building” has found herself at the center of a complex online conspiracy theory that has been gaining momentum all week. Why? In short, many online seem to believe Selena Gomez is a clone.
Why do people think Selena Gomez is a clone?
It all started with the Epstein cases. Last week, videos began appearing on TikTok claiming that Selena Gomez was mentioned in Epstein’s cases. She was indeed mentioned, but Gomez didn’t correspond with Epstein; she was mentioned in a July 21, 2017, message between Jeffrey Epstein and Lana (NAME REDACTED), in which Epstein wrote, “Sorry, you would have had fun. He decided [sic] about Selena Gomez.”
Conspiracy theorists have been using the Epstein files as evidence of virtually anything since their release in January, and Gomez’s mention in the Epstein files, they claim, is irrefutable proof that she’s a clone. The theory goes that the real Selena Gomez died during a kidney transplant in 2017, and the person we believe to be Selena Gomez is a genetically modified copy. Interestingly, I can’t find anyone who’s offered any explanation as to why anyone would go to such lengths, but perhaps it was to keep Gomez’s money-making machine printing money.
To support the cloning claim, proponents of this theory compare photos and videos of Gomez before 2017 with her current appearance, pointing out all the differences in her appearance and voice from almost a decade ago. She now has a rounded face, whereas before it was angular! Her voice has also changed; it used to be cheerful and high-pitched, but now it sounds like Madeline Kahn. This has led some to believe that she is somehow Madeline Kahn . (Or maybe Geena Davis .)
Evidence that Selena Gomez is not a clone.
It’s impossible to prove otherwise, but I can still say with certainty that Selena Gomez is definitely not a clone. Scientists have cloned a wide variety of animals, from sheep to primates , so there’s no theoretical reason why they couldn’t clone humans. But this hasn’t been done (as far as we know) because it’s highly unethical. Even setting ethical considerations aside, animal cloning has an extremely high failure rate: for example, cloning two macaques required 79 embryos and 42 surrogate mothers, and that was using fetal cells. Attempts to clone monkeys from adult cells ended even worse: 181 embryos were implanted in 42 surrogate mothers, and two babies were born, but both died within hours . The idea that an entire army of doctors, scientists, and more than 40 surrogate mothers are silent about the one time they were supposed to give birth to a clone of Selena Gomez is not credible.
Like many conspiracy theories, this one doesn’t hold up to scrutiny: if Selena Gomez were cloned, wouldn’t the new version be identical to the old one? Why such changes in her voice and appearance? If a clone can be recognized at first glance (or by listening to her sing), why create one at all?
More importantly, cloning an adult human is impossible. Theoretically, it would be possible to clone a human embryo, but to do so, it would need to be implanted in a uterus, allowed to survive, and then born. And it, too, would need to be nurtured. A clone of Selena Gomez won’t just emerge from a giant test tube and be sent to the set of a Woody Allen film at the end of his career.
Speaking of Woody Allen, the most plausible explanation for this email is that Jeffrey Epstein told Lana who Woody Allen had cast in A Rainy Day in New York , the 2017 film starring Selena Gomez. The timing of the events aligns perfectly with the pre-production schedule for that film—the casting was announced publicly two weeks later —and Epstein and Allen were longtime acquaintances.
Here’s why Selena Gomez looks and sounds different than she did in 2017.
Selena Gomez suffers from lupus, a debilitating disease so severe that she required a kidney transplant in 2017. No matter how rich and famous you are, it takes its toll. Changes in the shape of her face (called a ” moon face “) and body are well-known side effects of the corticosteroids/steroids prescribed to treat lupus, as well as the immunosuppressants used in organ transplants. The same goes for her voice: lupus causes voice changes in approximately 80% of patients. Inflammation of the cricoid-laryngeal joint typically leads to a deepening or hoarseness of the voice . Gomez has even commented on these changes herself, noting that she “sometimes gets a little swollen inside my throat” due to her health issues.
In short, Selena Gomez looks and sounds exactly like someone with lupus who received a kidney transplant in 2017. Ironically, if she looked the same as she did 10 years ago, it would be far more compelling evidence of a conspiracy. It would be perfectly reasonable to ask, “Did she really get a kidney transplant? Does she really have lupus?” But she clearly suffers and is in pain, and it’s visible on her face and audible in her voice.
Other celebrities who have been rumored to have been cloned and/or died and been replaced by others.
When it comes to cloning conspiracy theories, we’ve been there before. In 1969, hippies were convinced that The Beatles’ Paul McCartney had died and been replaced by Billy Shears, the (fictional) winner of a Paul McCartney lookalike contest. In 2003, Avril Lavigne was said to have been replaced by a Melissa Vandella lookalike . Gucci Mane was released from prison in 2016 looking slimmer, and fans thought he was a clone. Britney Spears is artificial intelligence . Eminem is an android . It goes on and on. I don’t understand why people in parasocial relationships with artists are so fond of pretending they’re fake, but they really do.
Is it bad to pretend celebrities are secretly dead?
I don’t think many Selena Gomez fans actually believe she’s a clone, even if they write about it online. At least, they don’t believe it the way they believe the sun will rise tomorrow. I doubt anyone would bet money on it. It’s more like a semi-fanfiction, a fascinating (if slightly creepy) game of “what if?”
Believing in a world where a group of Hollywood mad scientists secretly cloned an actress so Hulu could produce more episodes of “Only Murders in the Building” is far more interesting than accepting the dull, random reality . It’s hard to believe that anyone, even a celebrity, could contract a debilitating disease that changes their face and gives them a strange voice, simply because it happens sometimes. Because that means it could happen to you too. In a world of conspiracy theories, at least there’s someone responsible for the terrible things that happen. We’d rather have someone driving the bus, even with terrible intentions, than accept that there’s no driver and the exit doors are sealed.