The wedding bells have officially rung for Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco! Her mom, Mandy Teefey, delivered an emotional speech at the celebration. She also quickly cleared up rumors that she felt left out of the big day.
According to a source close to the situation, Mandy, 49, joined Benny’s mother in giving heartwarming speeches at the reception. Selena, 33, and Benny, 37, tied the knot with loved ones present. The beautiful ceremony happened on a Saturday, September 27, in Santa Barbara, California.
The very next day, Sunday, September 28, Mandy took to Instagram to share her joy. "What a perfect celebration for the coolest couple I know!" she wrote. "The night couldn’t have been more beautiful and perfect! Absolutely flawless!" Mandy, who shares Selena with her ex Ricardo Gomez, added a loving message: "All my love for my beautiful daughter @selenagomez and for the best son-in-law @itsbennyblanco!!!" She also shared a touching detail: "It was a fairytale come true and it was more than moving to see my father walk her down the aisle!!!"
Addressing the Rumors
Soon after the wedding, stories began to spread. Some reports claimed Mandy was unhappy because she didn’t get to walk Selena down the aisle. As a response, Mandy, who also manages Selena, quickly shot down those claims on social media. Her direct message? "This is ridiculous!"
It seems there was no truth to the whispers. Selena herself had already shared her special plans. She wanted her grandfather to play a key role on her wedding day. During an April appearance on the "Table Manners With Jessie and Lennie Ware" podcast, Selena explained her wishes. "I want to have a special dance with my grandfather," she said. "He never got the chance to walk my mom down the aisle because— good for my mom!— she decided to go to Las Vegas and it was like, ‘Wooo!’ It’s very sweet that they did it, but I wanted to give my grandfather the chance to have that moment."
A Journey Through Ups and Downs
Mandy’s life changed after she and Ricardo went their separate ways. She later found love with her current husband, Brian Teefey. Together, they have a 12-year-old daughter named Gracie. Over the years, Mandy and Selena have been open about the tough times and the good times in their mother-daughter journey.
Selena once spoke about the pain of her parents’ split. "I blamed my mom a lot [for separating from my dad] because I desperately wanted a family," she recalled during an E! Entertainment special about her life in June 2011. "I wanted my mom and dad to be together. I remember being angry at my mom. I still feel very bad about that. Having me at 16 must have been a big responsibility. My mom left everything for me and had like three jobs. She supported me, sacrificed her life for me."
Their relationship hit a particularly difficult patch in 2018. That’s when Selena entered a psychiatric center for mental health treatment. "They called me and wanted to know what my daughter was doing in the hospital with a nervous breakdown," Mandy shared in Selena’s 2022 documentary, ‘My Mind and Me.’ "She didn’t want to know anything about me. I was afraid she was going to die." Mandy added, "You have to hold on with all your strength and try to help them with their treatment. That’s the hardest thing: going to bed and hoping they wake up the next day. … It’s a miracle she came out, but there’s always the fear it will happen again, and that hurt us a lot."
Finding Peace and Stability
More recently, a second source told Us Weekly that Selena is "in a very healthy place." This comes after she "had to distance herself" from her mother "many times in the last 10 to 15 years for various reasons."
The source continued, explaining that the pair "went through many ups and downs." This past instability sometimes made Selena feel lost. But now, the source added, Selena "is finally in a place where she feels centered. [She has] eliminated a lot of toxicity from her life." It seems Selena has found her happy ever after, both in her personal relationships and her own well-being.