Instagram Liz Golden (L) and Raquelle Stevens are Selena Gomez's best friends and roommates during the quarantine.
Liz Golden and Raquelle Stevens are two of Selena Gomez’s best friends — in fact, they’ve been living together during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine. So naturally, the girls are appearing on Gomez’s new HBO Max show Selena + Chef where the pop star learns how to cook from the safety of her own kitchen by having virtual instructions from a variety of world-class chefs.
Here is what you need to know about Golden and Stevens.
1. Raquelle and Selena Have Matching Tattoos
Two years ago, Gomez and Stevens celebrated one of their 26th birthdays by getting matching tattoos of the number 4.
Gomez wrote on Instagram, “Best friend turned 26. Part 2. #4 because these women have stayed by my side for 7 years (@ashley_cook 12 years) 4, because you are my 4 for the rest of my life. I love you ladies. You all inspire me to be better, stronger, closer to god and we have lived the most INSANE story together already. Can’t wait for 50 more!! Ps @raquellestevens had an actual panic attack. it’s a dot!”
The four ladies getting tattoos were Gomez, Stevens, Ashley Cook, and Courtney Lopez. Those four are thick as thieves on Instagram, posting photos together all the time.
2. Raquelle Has a Video Podcast
Stevens runs the video podcast Giving Back Generation, which “aims to incentivize newer generations to give back ‘one good deed at a time.’ Through deep and personal conversations, young and successful artists, entrepreneurs, actors, and singers share touching and personal experiences on how they give back and create social impact.”
Last November, Gomez appeared on the vodcast to talk about how she has struggled with body image issues while living with lupus.
“I see so many beautiful girls and amazing different characters and then they’re just demolished by an image that they’re trying to chase,” Gomez said on the vodcast, adding that when her body changed due to her lupus, she was publicly criticized, which “really messed [her] up for a bit.”
“I experienced that with my weight fluctuation for the first time,” she said. “I have lupus and deal with kidney issues and high blood pressure so I deal with a lot of health issues, and for me that’s when I really started noticing more of the body image stuff.”
Lupus is an immune system affliction that has to be managed with medication and lifestyle changes in order to keep inflammation under control. Gomez was diagnosed in 2015 and says that now, she’s “very happy” with her life.
3. Selena, Liz and Raquelle Almost Started a Fire on the Cooking Show
Golden shared a trailer for Selena + Chef on Instagram and teased that she “can’t wait to relive the time we almost set the house on fire.” But she was not kidding.
In a virtual panel for the show, Chef Antonia Lofaso told the 2020 Television Critics Association, “During our cook I was genuinely concerned that there was going to be an oil fire because of the olive oil pouch with some calamari and some shrimp, and I kept — Selena, do you remember I kept just screaming to you like, ‘Are we sure that the oil is okay?’ And at one point, I had her bag an octopus and put it in water, and because I wasn’t in the kitchen I couldn’t see if there was enough water. So my maternal instinct at home was like there’s a plastic bag burning in a pot, and she’s there alone, and her friends are off to the side but there is no help, and she’s going to start a fire, and it’s going to be my fault. And, for sure, that is way scarier than a Quickfire [challenge] because it felt dangerous, physically.”
Gomez laughed it off and said that she did not, in fact, burn the house down.
4. Gomez Has Really Appreciated Her Time With Her Friends in Quarantine
Gomez told the TCA that there’s been a lot of “blessing” in being able to take a break from life. She acknowledges all of the horrible things going on in the world, but she says that she appreciates her friends being with her.
“It’s not easy for anyone to be walking through what we’re walking through. It’s not normal and it’s affecting people, specifically with mental health, you know, and people who have never thought about things that they’re thinking about now, and it’s just confusing. … You know, it was hard but I tried to find what I needed to get me through it,” said Gomez.
“I have great friends, and I see a therapist, and, yeah, just try to like keep my mind positive, but it’s all been great. I’ve learned so much about myself. I’ve learned more about my country than I ever have from school or anything. So I’ve been very grateful for that, as well.”
5. Liz is a Singer Like Selena
Gomez isn’t the only one in the friend group with some (ahem) golden pipes. Golden is also a singer, having released a single called “Lipstick Cigarettes” in July 2020. She also has a single called “Elephant” that she released in November 2019.
During quarantine, Golden also teased a new song she’s working on while holed up at home called “No Strings.” And she also posted the lyrics to a song she’s working on called “Televisions and Subdivisions.”
I don’t think that love ever really goes away, it’s more like boarding up windows and moving down the lane/ Occasionally when the traffic gets bad, we take the long way home, remember what we had occasionally it all comes rushing back/
Hearts are like televisions
Everyone we love gets a station
We never lose the signal
We just learn to change the channel
Hearts are like subdivisions
Everyone we love gets a mansion
We never lose the house
We just learn to move outI don’t think that love ever really turns to hate, it’s more like walking on water and somehow losing faith/ And occasionally when we’re calm and relaxed, we get the miracle back remember and laugh occasionally it all comes rushing back.
The first three episodes of Selena + Chef are out now on HBO Max. After that, a new episode will be released every Thursday.
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