Francia Raisa Shares the Story of Meeting Selena Gomez for the First Time (Exclusive)

Francia Raisa is opening up about her longtime friendship with Selena Gomez on “Extra: The Podcast.”

“Extra’s” Terri Seymour spoke with Francia at Selena’s inaugural Rare Impact Fund Benefit and she shared the story of how they met. Listen here!

Looking back 16 years, Raisa said, “When I was on ‘Secret Life of the American Teenager’… she was on ‘Wizards of Waverly Place.’ Disney had the stars of their shows go to Children’s Hospital and visit all the kids… She was in my group. She came up to me and was like, ‘My mom had a teenage pregnancy, she was 16 years old, and we love your show.’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God, thank you! I love your show.’ We started talking, we both had boyfriends at the time, we started kiki-ing… Around the time that my boyfriend and I broke up, and her and her boyfriend broke up, she called me and was like, ‘I am going through some stuff… I am going through a breakup.’ I was like, ‘Girl, me, too,’ and we were just inseparable after that ever since.”

Francia reflected on their journey together — she gave Selena one of her kidneys — saying, “We trauma-bonded, which is beautiful, but also it can get rocky and tricky… People grow, relationships change. Obviously, I treat her like my little sister, she treats me like her older sister… I don’t know any relationship that’s perfect… When our situation came up… No, I never pictured that, but obviously I never regretted it. I am happy that we are here today, celebrating and supporting each other.”

Terri said there are highs and lows in relationships. Francia replied, “I am a different person today than I was last year or even when I turned 30. I’m 35 now. Even when Selena turned 30, I’m like, ‘It’s different, isn’t it?’ and she was like, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Welcome to your 30s. Now we can get to know each other again.”

Terri said she is happy both she and Francia are in a good place. “Sometimes, I feel people need to spend time apart in order to grow.”

She went on, “We had to almost go on our own journey and grow... I am really happy in my career now and my endeavor. I don’t know if I would be able to do that if I didn’t really take some time for myself and figure out what the hell was going on with me, because I wasn’t okay.”

The star added, “I am okay now, and just for the record, it had nothing to do with the kidney.”

Francia went on, “I went through a lot in my childhood and I will be talking about it very soon… She has been such a huge support through all of that.”