This is really sad. Parts that stood out for me:
"Employees at Wondermind had come to expect erratic behavior from their boss, like disappearances that lasted days or even weeks and unpredictable angry outbursts. Since the company was launched a year and a half before, Teefey had gone through phases of sleeping in her office, where she had two couches. She seemed to stay for days without bathing — there was no shower in the suite — and sometimes without changing her clothes."
"They believe that Teefey was sometimes intoxicated. One calls Teefey’s office her “drug den.” Accounts of what she allegedly used vary. One staff member recalls being in her office when she snorted what they believe was a line of Ritalin."
" (Occasionally, Teefey’s younger daughter came to the office for sleepovers, which worried employees.)"
"According to dozens of conversations, the company’s grand mission and basic operations were tanked by Gomez’s and Teefey’s personal and family dysfunction, including the denial of Teefey’s instability. . . .Selena knew her mother was not well enough to be running that company.”
"When Gomez landed in a mental-health facility again, according to My Mind & Me, Teefey once more learned the news from TMZ. “She didn’t want anything to do with me,” Teefey says in the doc. “I was scared she was going to die.”"
"According to several staffers, Teefey said Gomez had stepped in multiple times to cover employee payroll." (Good for her tbh)
"Staffers describe Gomez as disinterested, at best, in the company. Many believe Wondermind is effectively, as one puts it, “a way for Selena to keep Mandy out of her orbit.”
"In June of the company’s first year, Wondermind held a team dinner at Tower Bar in the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood. To staffers present, it seemed obvious that Gomez didn’t take Wondermind seriously. Several employees say she arrived noticeably drunk, slurring her words and telling the table, over a martini, that she’d be leaving shortly to go have sex. (A spokesperson for Gomez did not offer comment.)"
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Posted by ladybrettashley90
14 Comments
It’s a sad situation, to be sure, but it’s frankly ridiculously irresponsible for all involved (including Selena) to have someone who is this mentally unwell in charge of a company like this. There’s some poetic irony with the company’s actual services here, but the employees themselves shouldn’t have to deal with this and have their livelihood put at risk, and dealing with delayed paychecks.
This is sad. Bipolar is really, really difficult (interesting that Teefey was diagnosed bipolar and then .. undiagnosed, and diagnosed instead with ADHD and PTSD – but I am only an expert in my bipolar disorder and not anyone else’s I suppose).
“To staffers present, it seemed obvious that Gomez didn’t take Wondermind seriously. Several employees say she arrived noticeably drunk, slurring her words and telling the table, over a martini, that she’d be leaving shortly to go have sex.”
This is sad considering she is a kidney donor recipient. But then I also believe it because her energy on IG/PDA with Benny is always look at us we have sex! Also those poor employees, this is a toxic work environment & hope they receive all. The necessary compensation for the work they have done.
>Several employees say she arrived noticeably drunk, slurring her words and telling the table, over a martini, that she’d be leaving shortly to go have sex.
I remember watching her doc and coming away with how I couldn’t believe how self involved she was.
Is this the startup Alex Aster’s sister is involved with?
this is sad. It seems like she hasn’t had a great relationship with her mom for a long time which explains why she seems to only really be close with her grandma and grandpa? (it just seems that way with her cooking show). it seems so rare for child stars to have great relationships with their parents
Ugh, what a mess.
It sounds like it was basically created as a way of making amends and giving her mother something to do, and then it all fell apart.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think it is really Selena’s job to manage her mother’s mental health. She was in and out of treatment during this time and clearly struggling with her issues, I don’t blame her for not having the capacity to take on her mother’s problems, too. Her mother is also married and presumably has a support system outside of Selena.
If her mother were legally the CEO, then Selena may not have had the ability to interfere beyond covering payroll. She could have publicly denounced it to better her reputation, but that won’t better the situation for employees working there.
The way she talks about her daughter is so gross. It almost seems like she drove the company into the ground out of spite and blames the existence of Selena for investors not taking her seriously. Well she sure proved them wrong…
>Teefey said that she’d used Gomez’s influence sparingly “very intentionally” — that the company had not yet arrived at a stable enough place for her daughter’s sway to be “utilized at its best capacity.” To multiple former employees, it seemed Teefey had refused to grab hold of ready lifelines: They say she repeatedly rejected deals with companies and investors drawn to Wondermind through their interest in Gomez, that she’d found this interest offensive and taken it as a personal slight. According to one staffer, Wondermind pulled out of a potential project with Mattel because the company wanted Gomez to be included as a producer. (Teefey said she has not rejected any such deals.)
Also wtf is this? Way to shift the blame. What was she supposed to do, drag her out by her hair? You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to help themselves.
>One employee recalls Gomez finding her mother lying on a couch, covered in blankets, her hair mussed, wearing slippers and a sweat suit that she’d had on for several days in a row. “How long have you been here?” the staffer recalls Gomez asking, sounding concerned. “Have you gone home?”
>“If I had seen my mom in that state,” one employee says, “I would have intervened. I would say, ‘This isn’t right.’” Teefey is “culpable,” the staffer says — responsible for Wondermind’s failures and their fallout — “but Selena, in my opinion, is just as culpable.”
I can’t help but feel like a lot of these employees are just bitter that Selena was not willing to do more publicity for the company and that is why they place the blame of it failing on her. It just seems really unfair.
anybody have the article not behind the paywall
I believe their intentions to support mental health were probably genuine and good. I believe Selena Gomez probably had a financial manager who told her to invest her wealth in a company with high growth potential. I believe both Gomez and her mom probably have a history of being wary of letting people in their “inner circle”, which is true for a lot of child stars and momagers…I think this probably all was a perfect storm of unqualified, good intentioned people being in a situation way beyond their capacity and doing more harm than any good. Like, it would have been so much better if someone had told Gomez just to donate money to established charities. Of course, her financial advisor has little to no reason to to that; they want her wealth to expand! It’s all just sad.
I know this is besides the point of the bigger issues here, but as someone who works in social services, I wish we’d give money to the agencies, nonprofits and staff who are already doing the work. I am not saying starting this initiative isn’t commendable, but too often new programs and startups are pointlessly created while agencies already doing the work are underfunded and drowning. It appears as though neither were interested or invested in doing the actual work.
I’m all for celebrities supporting personal causes but I really wish more of them would look to get involved with existing charities or companies, instead of always having to start up their own charity/company. I know it’s not as buzzy and fun to just be a supporter for a charity/investor for a company instead of getting to give yourself a title like CEO or Creative Director but both charities and companies take work and if the celeb isn’t super engaged (or willing to hire someone who is to be their proxy) – as it sounds like Selena and her mom weren’t – it really sucks for the employees to basically be left running someone’s half-baked idea.