Selena Gomez says she deleted Instagram from her phone because it made her feel "depressed".

Speaking ahead of the release of her new film, she said social media negatively affected her self-esteem.

The 26-year-old told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, "it would make me feel not good about myself, and look at my body differently".

The singer added that despite having more than 152m Instagram followers, she doesn't go on it much.

"I used to use it a lot but I think it's become really unhealthy for young people, including myself, to spend all of their time fixating on all of these comments and letting this stuff in," she says.

Her comments come after she told audiences at Cannes Film Festival last month that she was scared of how social media could affect young people.

Selena said at the event she was worried by how much people were spending their lives online.

"It's a useful platform but it does scare me when you see young boys and girls not really aware of the news going on," she said.

"It's selfish - I don't wanna say selfish, that's rude - but it's dangerous for sure."

Selena has spoken frequently in the past about how she's had to delete Instagram off her phone after receiving abuse from trolls or getting overwhelmed by comments from fans.

She said back in 2017 that she would become obsessed with negative comments, which played on her insecurities.

"I delete the app from my phone at least once a week.

"It's like they [the trolls] want to cut to your soul. Imagine all the insecurities that you already feel about yourself and having someone write a paragraph pointing out every little thing - even if it's just physical," she said.

Despite once being the most followed person in the world on Instagram (Cristiano Ronaldo overtook her last year), the comments she's received have made her take lengthy breaks.

She even told Vogue that she no longer has the password to her own account - her assistant is in charge of it, and posts all her pictures too.

Source: BBC