Selena Gomez marrying Benny Blanco this weekend

Selena Gomez is about to have her happily ever after – just a few years after health woes left her fearing she would die.

The former child star – who is now believed to be worth around $700 million – is tying the knot with music producer Benny Blanco this weekend in Santa Barbara, Calif., with her BFF Taylor Swift in attendance.

The happy couple has rented out the stunning El Encanto hotel for their guests for the entirety of the wedding weekend, Page Six has confirmed. The coastal retreat is owned by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen and was once an old Hollywood getaway.

For Gomez, 33, the weekend will mark an idyllic new chapter, far removed from the chaos of her younger years — namely a turbulent relationship with fellow pop star Justin Bieber and serious health problems.

Blanco, a sensitive guy from the suburbs of Northern Virginia, showed Gomez — a child star who found fame on “Barney & Friends” and the Disney Channel’s “Wizards of Waverly Place” — that things could be different.

“Benny was the first and only guy who got her to drop her defenses and made her believe someone was out there who would forever be her biggest fan, and not her rival,” said a well-placed industry insider.

“It took Selena a really, really long time to feel well and truly free of the ways she’d conditioned herself to act and react in relationships after Bieber.”

Blanco and Gomez both share a love of food. Blanco published a cookbook called “Open Wide” with his pal Jess Damuck and Gomez filmed “Selena + Chef” for HBO Max in 2020.

Candice Kumai, who was featured with Gomez on the show, told Page Six she was thrilled for the star. “One of my favorite memories was when we joked that both onions and boys can make you cry — I encouraged her to go find ‘the one,’ and I love that a few years later, she did!”

The pair will say their vows in front of a crowd of A-listers, including Gomez’s “Only Murders in the Building” co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short, although it’s not yet known whether Short’s love Meryl Streep will be there. Paris Hilton and her husband Carter Reum are also believed to be on the guest list.

And although Swift, 35, will be there, her new fiancé, Travis Kelce will not be joining her as the Kansas City Chiefs are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Page Six has confirmed.

Meanwhile, Gomez’ once-close friend, Nicola Peltz, and her husband Brooklyn Beckham will also not be in attendance, Page Six is told.

Following rumors of a fallout, a source close to the couple claimed that Peltz is in “pre-production for a very rigorous film shoot”.”

Blanco and Gomez were first just friends. They originally met when Gomez was in her teens, although neither remember meeting at the time. They got close after collaborating on the March 2019 song “I Can’t Get Enough.” Blanco — real name Benjamin Levin — dressed as a big white teddy bear for the video.

They worked together again on her August 2023 single, “Single Soon” — and by that December they confirmed they were dating.

Fans, however, didn’t initially think Blanco was good enough for the star, prompting Gomez to declare online he was the “best thing that’s ever happened to me. The end.”

The couple made their public debut at the 2023 Emmy Awards, and, in February 2024, Gomez told Zane Lowe on his Apple Music show, “I’d have to say overall it’s the safest that I feel and it’s been really lovely and I’ve only grown through it, so it’s awesome.”

In December 2024, they announced they were engaged shortly after splashing out on a $35 million Spanish-style mansion in Beverly Hills.

“Forever begins now..” Gomez wrote on Instagram, alongside closeup photos of the dazzling diamond ring Blanco gave her. Swift reacted by replying to the post, “Yes I will be the flower girl.”

Blanco, 37, is Gomez’s most serious romance since her on-off relationship with Bieber, and the future Mr. Gomez hasn’t been shy about gushing about his wife-to-be.

“Every time she’s singing, I feel it so deep,” he said earlier this year after they collaborated on an album called “I Said I Love You First.” “The thing that Selena does that not a lot of artists do is she’s never afraid to tell the truth.”

Their coupling is the polar opposite to what Gomez experienced with Bieber, whom she started dating in 2011. She was 18 and he was just 16. They finally called it a day in 2018. Later that year, Bieber wed his wife Hailey.

Gomez opened up about her relationship with Bieber in 2020, telling NPR it was toxic. “I’m not being disrespectful,” she said. “I do feel I was a victim to certain [emotional] abuse.”

 The industry insider told Page Six, “Justin really really messed with her head. He made her feel like her successes were to blame for their issues, like she was bad for wanting to celebrate her achievements and accomplishments because it somehow diminished him, and just made her second-guess her self-worth.” 

They added, “He also had a way of getting back under her skin just when she’d think she was free of him.”

The actress/singer went on to date musician The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) for about a year in 2017, and was then linked to former One Direction heartthrob Zayn Malik — who went on to have a daughter with model Gigi Hadid — and Drew Taggart of The Chainsmokers.

Although she is drawn to musicians, she was hesitant to date another one, the industry source said. “Her guard was up so high and for so long after what she went through with Justin.”

With 417 million followers, Gomez is the most followed woman on Instagram. But behind the perfect pictures, she has suffered a string of health issues, both mental and physical.

In 2013, she was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease that can cause painful inflammation and swelling, 

While talking to Savannah Guthrie about that time, Gomez remarked, “I got to the point where it was really life or death.”

As she battled the disease away from the spotlight, rumors swirled that she had a substance abuse problem.

“I’ve been through chemotherapy. That’s what my break was really about,” she told Billboard in October 2015. “I could’ve had a stroke.”

The next year, she was forced to cancel the end of her Revival tour due to her health issues.

Things got so bad that in the Summer of 2017, she had a kidney transplant, with her friend, actress Francia Raisa donating the organ.

“She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice,” Gomez said.

The star has also been open about her mental health. She’s been to four mental health treatment facilities in total, and, in 2020, revealed that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

“I will always be working on my mental health, and I will always evolve,” she told Today in May 2024. “I’m not better or worse than anyone. I’m simply just a person living and surviving every day.” 

The star’s health struggles seem to have made her uniquely empathetic, especially for Hollywood.

“Selena is genuinely the sweetest — warm, loving, and incredibly hard-working,” said Kumai, praising Gomez for generously donating to City Harvest in NYC as part of her cooking show.

“What always shines through is her authenticity — she’s a good human to her core. She deserves every bit of love, success and joy because she truly helps others from her heart.”