Does '13 Reasons Why' Glamorize Suicide? Selena Gomez Defends Netflix Series Amid Controversy
"13 Reasons Why" executive producer Selena Gomez recently defended the controversial Netflix teen drama amid accusations that the TV series glamorizes teen suicide.
In an interview with E! News, Gomez spoke of the series' success and also shared the reason why she decided to be involved in developing "13 Reasons Why" and why she thought it was necessary to depict how Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) committed suicide.
"I just wanted it to come across in a way that kids would be frightened, but confused — in a way that they would talk about it because it's something that's happening all the time," she said.
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"13 Reasons Why" is a TV adaptation of a book of the same name written by Jay Asher in 2007. The novel followed the life of a teenager named Hannah, who revealed to several of her schoolmates the reason why she committed suicide. She recorded 13 different tapes detailing the contribution of each character to her suicide.
The series consisted of 13 episodes and tackled pressing teen issues such as rape, bullying, physical assault, drug and alcohol addiction, body shaming and more.
"We stayed very true to the book and that's initially what Jay Asher created was a beautifully tragic, complicated yet suspenseful story and I think that's what we wanted to do," Gomez told the Associated Press.
"We wanted to do it justice and, yeah, [the backlash is] gonna come no matter what. It's not an easy subject to talk about, but I'm very fortunate with how it's doing," she continued, even adding that she is "very proud" of the project.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the writers of "13 Reasons Why" have already begun working on possible storylines that they might later on pitch should Netflix announce in the coming weeks that the hit teen drama series would be renewed for a second season.
"13 Reasons Why" is still currently available to watch on Netflix.
