Selena Gomez is clarifying that her past comments about her time on the Disney Channel were all in good fun.
While promoting her upcoming Hulu series Only Murders in the Building earlier this month, the 29-year-old singer joked about being a teen actress: she starred on Wizards of Waverly Place from 2007 to 2012.
“I signed my life away to Disney at a very young age, so I didn’t know exactly what I was doing,” she said at the Television Critics Association press panel, alongside costars Steve Martin and Martin Short. “I was a kid I didn’t know what I was doing, I was just running around on set, and now I feel like a sponge and I soak up all the wisdom that I can.”
Per a recent joint interview with Martin for RadioTimes, Gomez addressed the comment and told reporters that she was joking.
When asked if she had any hesitancy about returning to TV, she said, “No, definitely not. I was looking for another show to do. And by the way, I’m beyond proud of the work that I did with Disney as well. It kind of shaped who I am in a way.”
Martin, 76, came to defense for his co-star adding, “I have to jump in because I was there when Selena said that [at the TCA] and it was said in the most light-hearted, funny, jokey way. And then I see it gets interpreted – sometimes they’ll say she was joking and sometimes they have it as an ominous headline – but it was completely just all in fun. I’ve signed my life away to Marty Short, you think I like that?”
Gomez added that her experience at the Disney Channel was a positive one. “I have to say, I’m very lucky,” she said. “As a female in my position, I was taken care of and I’ve only had lovely experiences, so I’m grateful for that.”
The “Lose You to Love Me” singer made her acting debut on children’s TV series Barney & Friends from 2002 to 2004 before she landed a leading role at Disney starring in 2007’s Wizards of Waverly Place.
Gomez’s upcoming Only Murders in the Building marks her first TV acting gig since Wizards of Waverly Place. In the upcoming series, she plays a resident of an Upper West Side apartment building who teams up with two of her neighbors (played by Martin and Short) to discover the truth behind a neighbor’s sudden death.
Of her latest role in the comedic murder-mystery, Gomez told press at the Television Critics Association, “The level of sophistication of the material is the first reason why I wanted to do this. It’s really nice to be back on TV and it’s nice to be cast as my actual age, which never happens.”
Watch a trailer for Only Murders in the Building below: