Francia Raisa: who is Selena Gomez friend, did she give singer a kidney, was she in new film My Mind and Me?

Fans of singer Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building, Wizards of Waverly Place) have been left convinced that the singer is no longer friends with longtime pal Francia Raisa, following comments made in a recent interview - something that the internet has found rather bizarre considering Rasia donated one of her kidneys to the singer back in 2017.

So what’s going on here? This is everything you need to know about Raisa, the kidney transplant, what was said in Rolling Stone, the My Mind and Me documentary and those (now deleted) Instagram and TikTok comments.

Who is Francia Raisa?

Raisa is an American actress best known for her roles in things like Bring It On: All or Nothing, The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Grown-ish. She was born in Los Angeles, California, on 26 July 1988, and attended Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills where she was a cheerleader.

She began her acting career when she was in her junior year of high school, taking roles in adverts and modelling for print ads - it was shortly after she began her senior year that she landed one of her first leading roles in Bring It On: All or Nothing, opposite Hayden Panettiere (Scream 6, Nashville).

Raisa went on to appear in films and TV shows like Shredderman Rules, Fired Up!, Plain Sight, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Mindy Project and Hit the Floor. She starred on The Secret Life of the American Teenager from its beginning in 2008 until the show ended in June 2013.

From 2018 to 2022, she starred in the Black-ish spinoff Grown-ish, appearing in the first four seasons. It was announced last year that she had been cast in another spinoff series - the How I Met Your Mother sister show How I met Your Father, with Hilary Duff.

Raisa met Gomez back in 2007 when the two young stars were invited to an event at a children’s hospital, and the two quickly became close friends.

Did she give Selena Gomez a kidney transplant?

In the summer of 2017, Raisa donated one of her kidneys to Gomez, following the singer’s lupus diagnosis a few years earlier. In September of that year, Gomez revealed that she had received a kidney from Raisa in a post on Instagram.

Gomez shared a series of pictures, including one of her and Raisa in hospital together holding hands, and a lengthy caption that explained that she “needed to get a kidney transplant due to my Lupus” and that she was “lying low” whilst she recovered.

In the post, Gomez wrote: “There aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa. She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed. I love you so much sis.”

The two discussed the operation together in an interview with Today, explaining that after Gomez revealed that she needed a transplant and that the waiting list was “seven to 10 years long”, Raisa had offered to get tested to see if she would be eligible to donate her own kidney.

“[Raisa] lived with me in this interesting time where my kidneys were just done. That was it and I didn’t want to ask a single person in my life. The thought of asking somebody to do that was really difficult for me. And she volunteered and did it… The fact that she was a match, I mean, that’s unbelievable,” Gomez said.

Gomez added that the surgery completely transformed her life, stating that “as soon as I got the kidney transplant, my arthritis went away” and that “my energy, my life has been better”.

Talking to Harry Connick Jr in an interview for Harry, Raisa opened up about the painful recovery she experienced after donating her kidney.

She said: “It’s harder as the donor because we are losing something our body didn’t need to lose, so trying to recover from that, and she’s gaining something her body needed. So she’s up and at it immediately and I had a hard time.”

She continued: “Those mothers out there who had C-sections, I feel you. I don’t know how you take care of a child afterwards. It is crazy! I couldn’t get up without having someone help me.

“That was very humbling. I couldn’t take a shower by myself, I had to have someone help me because I couldn’t move. I’m a very, very active person, so the fact that my doctor said I couldn’t move for two months. Two months, I couldn’t do anything active. All I could do was walk.

“That was very hard for me and I have a dog and every day the thing I look forward to is drinking my coffee and walking and I couldn’t do that. It was really really hard.”

Have they fallen out?

Although the pair appeared together in a TikTok video earlier this year, speculation regarding their friendship has been sparked following a comment that the singer made in a new interview with Rolling Stone.

In the interview, Gomez said: “I never fit in with a cool group of girls that were celebrities. My only friend in the industry really is Taylor [Swift], so I remember feeling like I don’t belong.”

While many have pointed out that Gomez may be referring specifically to friends within the music industry, which Raisa is not, Raisa reportedly commented on an Instagram post from E! News which highlighted the quote about Taylor Swift in which she wrote: “Interesting.”

The comment has since been deleted, however fans have noticed that Raisa no longer follows Gomez on Instagram, further adding fuel to the fire of a falling out.

On the other hand, over on TikTok, Gomez appeared to dismiss the rumours by commenting on a video that discussed the situation with: “Sorry I didn’t mention every person I know.”

Much like Raisa’s, Gomez’s comment has also been deleted.

Is Francia Raisa in Selena Gomez’s new documentary?

Another reason why fans think the two have fallen out is because Raisa isn’t mentioned by name in Gomez’s new documentary My Mind and Me. The film, which was released on Apple TV+ on Friday (4 November), charts the last six years of Gomez’s life, including her battle with Lupus and the resulting kidney transplant.

While Gomez’s health struggles are explored in the film, Raisa herself is never actually mentioned by name, nor does she make an appearance at any point.