Why Selena Gomez Cried Happy Tears on Golden Globes Carpet & Why She’s Stressing About a Possible Oscar Performance

The singer/actress lost it when she met one of her dad’s biggest crushes at Sunday night’s (Jan. 5) awards show.

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco during the 82nd Annual Golden Globes held at The Beverly Hilton on January 05, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. Rich Polk/GG2025

Selena Gomez didn’t go home with any hardware at Sunday night’s (Jan. 5) Golden Globe Awards, but the Only Murders in the Building co-star had absolutely no complaints about her big night out with fiancée producer Benny Blanco.

In addition to being nominated for a best supporting actress award for her role in the musical Emilia Pérez — with her co-star, Zoe Saldaña, taking home the prize — Gomez was also overcome with emotion when she had an unexpectedly sweet encounter with a fellow A-lister before the show. During a pre-show red carpet stroll, Gomez was shocked when House of Gucci star Salma Hayek interrupted her live spot with carpet co-host and Variety senior culture and events editor Mark Malkin, to give Sel, 32, a hug.

According to video posted by Variety, Hayek not only embraced the singer/actress, but insisted that Gomez take the mic and chat with Malkin as well. “No, no, no… I refuse,” Hayek said, swatting away Malkin’s hand as he tried to get her to hop up and do a dual interview with Gomez.

Gomez clearly appreciated the kind gesture, bowing down and giving Hayek a kiss on her hand as she fought off tears that threatened to muss her perfect makeup.

“That just made me cry! She’s who I’ve looked up to,” Gomez told Malkin. “It’s actually the sweetest thing ever,” Gomez told Malkin. “I love her. I looked up to her. My dad’s crush was her. Everything.”

In a different interview with Malkin at this weekend’s Variety 10 Directors to Watch & Creative Impact Awards, Gomez admitted that she’s super anxious about the idea of performing songs from Emilia Pérez at the 2025 Oscars. When Malkin asked her if she would be up for performing songs from the musical alongside Saldaña, Selena said she’d rather defer to the Avatar star.

“I hope that all goes on Zoe,” she said, noting that she has not performed live for quite a while. Then Malkin reminded Gomez that Saldaña recently said she wants both of them on stage on March 2 to do a “big homage to Mexico with both (Emilia Pérez) songs,” asking “will you do it?”

“I don’t know if I could, Gomez responded. “I’m not as… I’m not there, it’s just different.” The announcement of the 2025 Oscar nominations are less than two weeks away and assuming Emilia Pérez continues its winning ways — it also took home best motion picture – musical or comedy, best original song (“El Mal“) and best non-English language motion picture at the Globes — it’s likely it’s musical numbers will get nods; the songs nominated for the best original song Oscar are typically performed during the ceremony.