Selena Gomez reportedly fought back tears as she broke her silence on childhood friend Demi Lovato's alleged drug overdose.
In an interview with Elle magazine, Gomez briefly addressed the incident that saw her former best friend rushed to hospital after being found unconscious at home.
"All I'm saying is, I reached out personally," Gomez told Elle writer Mickey Rapkin, who reports she got "choked up" while talking about Lovato.
"I didn't do a public thing. I didn't want to," she added.
Gomez and Lovato first met as young children on the set of Barney and Friends.
They both went on to star in Disney Channel hit shows, but later fell out over Gomez' friendship with Taylor Swift.
In 2010, Lovato was asked on-camera how Gomez was doing. Without missing a beat, she replied, "ask Taylor".
Despite their rocky relationship, Gomez told Elle she cares deeply for the troubled pop star.
"I... I love her," she said in the interview.
"I've known her since I was seven," Gomez continued, before concluding, "that's what I'll say".
Last month Lovato took to social media to tell fans she would "keep fighting", two weeks after emergency services reportedly revived her with Narcan, a treatment for opioid overdoses.
Hours after the news broke of Lovato's hospitalisation, Gomez was photographed looking upset and disheveled while speaking on the phone.
At the time, a source told E! News Gomez was "distraught" over the thought of Lovato "suffering", despite the fact the pair hadn't been close in some time.
Newshub.