Selena Gomez Has Already Had To Deny One Dating Rumor In 2023

After years of being open about her dating struggles and recently feeling “positive and optimistic” about her love life, Selena Gomez is starting 2023 by celebrating her single status. The Only Murders in the Building star was rumored to be dating The Chainsmokers frontman Drew Taggart, as reported by Us Weekly. However, Gomez subtly denied the reports without mentioning Taggart in a since-deleted Instagram Story, where she posted a black-and-white image that read, “I like being alone too much.” At the bottom, she added the hashtag “#iamsingle.”

Previously, an insider close to the duo told Us Weekly that their romance was “very casual and low-key,” adding that the pair are getting to know each other by going on normal dates like bowling and going to the movies instead of “sneaking around at members only clubs.” The source revealed that the Rare Beauty founder is “so affectionate” with Taggart and “Selena can hardly keep her hands off him.” Taggart recently ended a relationship with Eve Jobs, daughter of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, but the pair split amicably.

While Gomez is proudly single, she’s also very open to finding a happy relationship: She used her Saturday Night Live hosting stint in May 2022 to manifest one during her monologue, citing the show’s recent success in matchmaking. “I’ve heard that SNL is a great place to find romance,” she said. “Emma Stone met her husband here. Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost. Pete and... Machine Gun Kelly. Since I don’t really want to try the dating apps, I just want to put it out in the universe that I’m manifesting love. And I would like to say that I’m looking for my soulmate, but at this point, I will take anyone.” Several SNL cast members lined up to shoot their shot, and after turning down Kyle Mooney and James Austin Johnson, Gomez clarified that she didn’t actually mean anyone.

In March 2022, Gomez posted a TikTok video of herself lip-syncing to a viral sound of a man flirting with an uninterested woman and mocked her dating status. “Maybe this is why I’m single,” she wrote. “Don’t believe a damn word.” But of course, this hasn’t stopped fans from speculating about her love life. In October 2021, rumors swirled that Gomez was dating Captain America actor Chris Evans after the two were seen leaving the same Los Angeles studio and the same restaurant together. At the time, fans noticed that Evans started following Gomez on Instagram, but the exact timeline of when he followed her is unclear. Evans further fueled speculation when he played piano on TikTok and fans noticed a woman in the reflection of the piano lid, but her identity was never confirmed.

The singer said she was interested in the Marvel actor back in 2015 during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. “I kind of have a crush on Chris Evans. Isn’t he cute? He’s very cute,” she told the host. Cohen informed Gomez that Evans’ “gay brother,” aka Scott Evans, had bartended on the show the week prior, and she replied, “Really? Last week? Maybe it’s meant to be.”

In March, rumors swirled that she was dating entrepreneur Zen Matoshi when they were seen at a Dua Lipa concert together. However, that rumor was quickly dispelled by E! “They are friends,” a source said. “He works in the tech space and has been helping advise Selena.” The previous month, Gomez was seen walking arm-in-arm with actor Aaron Dominguez while out in New York. It turns out they were only filming a scene for her Hulu series Only Murders In the Building, but that didn’t stop fans from running rampant with rumors.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Gomez said she worried that speculation about her love life would turn off potential suitors. “We had just started working together,” she said about Dominguez. “I honestly thought, ‘No wonder guys don’t want to date me!’ I think people only care because I’m young, and the older I get, the less they’ll care. For now, it’s a part of the job that I don’t really like. I’m actually grateful that I’m not involved with anyone right now.”

In December 2020, fans thought Gomez had a new beau after being spotted at dinner with NBA player Jimmy Butler by The Miami Herald. Neither of them ever commented on the speculation, but E! reported that Gomez was still single despite her reportedly hanging out with the athlete “a few times” in New York. Her most recent public relationship was with on-and-off boyfriend Justin Bieber (again), which ended around March 2018, according to Cosmopolitan. Since then, she’s been linked to One Direction’s Niall Horan and reported ex-boyfriend Samuel Krost, but she quickly dispelled rumors about reuniting with Krost on Instagram.

The singer has been very open about her love life in recent years, beginning with the late 2019 release of two songs that are widely believed to be written about Bieber. In a June 2021 interview with Vogue Australia, Gomez admitted that she has felt inferior throughout her love life, without naming names, an emotion that inspired her 2020 album Rare, and later, her cosmetics line Rare Beauty. “I think most of my experiences in relationships have been cursed,” she said. “I’ve been way too young to be exposed to certain things when I was in relationships ... I felt so less than in past relationships, and never really felt equal.”

Gomez spoke on the Zach Sang Show in October 2019 about how she’s learned from her relationships and knows what she’s looking for. “When you’re young, you have this codependency that you think is love, and then you have this addiction to the passion and the frustration with each other and you think, ‘Oh that's love.’ I believed that for a long time,” she said. “I want it to be real and I don't want it to be codependent, or messy, or lack of communication. When you get older, you find people who are actually right for you, that are actually on the same wavelength.”