Selena Gomez decided to spend some of her quarantine period becoming a better cook. But she's learning the celebrity way.
In "Selena + Chef," now streaming on HBO Max, the recording artist and actor takes virtual tutorials from culinary superstars in her home's brand-new kitchen that would easily earn Martha Stewart's seal of approval.
But the big surprise here isn't that the room looks like you could eat off the floor. It's the fact that she's more charming and comfortable than other food hosts with years of experience. You won't have to be among her 62 million Twitter followers to be won over by the way she dotes on her grandparents, gags while chopping up octopus and cracks jokes about her love life.
"I just thought this was something lighthearted I could do, because I was really getting down," Gomez said this month during a Zoom interview with TV critics. "There's more important things going on right now, but this was an opportunity to make something that could make people smile. I hope they're going to laugh, because I look like a fool."
Maybe. But jumping on a red-hot pastime is nothing short of genius.
"Cooking during this time has really been a source of relief for a lot of people's anxieties, depression and boredom," said Antonia Lofaso, a Los Angeles-based author and restaurant owner who served as one of Gomez's instructors. "Every time I turn on my phone, it's like someone I know is making a bagel or some sourdough."
Gomez has been open about her own battle with depression. She has been lauded by the medical profession for advancing the public's understanding of mental illness.
"I think there's a lot of blessing in the breaking, if that makes sense," said Gomez, who turned 28 last month. "It's not easy for anyone to be walking through what we're going through right now, especially people with mental health issues. I just try to keep my mind positive. I've learned so much about myself."
