In 2017, actress and singer Selena Gomez revealed that she had undergone a kidney transplant. A couple of years earlier, the star had been diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease which causes the immune system to attack healthy tissue, but her need for the transplant came at fairly short notice.

On Instagram, the star made an emotional post explaining that her friend, Grownish actress Francia Raisa, had been selfless enough to offer her own kidney.

"I want to publicly thank my family and incredible team of doctors for everything they have done for me prior to and post-surgery. And finally, there aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa," Gomez wrote. "She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed. I love you so much sis."

Now, Raisa has opened up about her side of the experience.

Before she went ahead with the operation, the actress remembers being told by a social worker: "It’s going to be hard, the recipient is going to glow and she’s going to recover a lot faster than the donor because she’s getting something she needs and you are losing something you don’t need to lose. It’s going to be hard."

"And it was hard," she said. "Selena and I both went through a depression."

During the recovery process, Raisa said she struggled to keep up with her usual routine: "I didn’t want to eat, I didn’t want to drink anything."

It also turns out that Gomez wasn't fairing much better.

"Selena did have a complication, too. A few hours after our surgery, I woke up and had a text from her that said, 'I’m really scared.'" It turns out that the former Disney star had to have a vein taken from her leg and used to build a new artery in order to keep her kidney stable.

Both women were left with scars from the procedure, and Raisa recently showed hers in an interview with SELF.

During the interview, she said that her scars were nothing to be ashamed of. "It’s a part of your story. It’s a part of the story that makes you special and you different," she explained. "I really appreciate these scars because they honestly changed my life - not just because of Selena, but me personally. Life came into perspective. I learned a lot."

As well as opening up about her experience with her best friend, Raisa also spoke openly about her relationship with her mother, her experience with breaking into acting, and other issues she has experienced with her mental and physical health - all of which made her quite emotional.

She described the last year or so as somewhat of a "storm" for her, with so many turbulent things happening and so many changes she was forced to make. And yet, she remains optimistic about her future, noting that, at the end of every storm, there's a rainbow.

In 2017, actress and singer Selena Gomez revealed that she had undergone a kidney transplant. A couple of years earlier, the star had been diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease which causes the immune system to attack healthy tissue, but her need for the transplant came at fairly short notice.

On Instagram, the star made an emotional post explaining that her friend, Grownish actress Francia Raisa, had been selfless enough to offer her own kidney.

"I want to publicly thank my family and incredible team of doctors for everything they have done for me prior to and post-surgery. And finally, there aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa," Gomez wrote. "She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed. I love you so much sis."

Now, Raisa has opened up about her side of the experience.

Before she went ahead with the operation, the actress remembers being told by a social worker: "It’s going to be hard, the recipient is going to glow and she’s going to recover a lot faster than the donor because she’s getting something she needs and you are losing something you don’t need to lose. It’s going to be hard."

"And it was hard," she said. "Selena and I both went through a depression."

During the recovery process, Raisa said she struggled to keep up with her usual routine: "I didn’t want to eat, I didn’t want to drink anything."

It also turns out that Gomez wasn't fairing much better.

"Selena did have a complication, too. A few hours after our surgery, I woke up and had a text from her that said, 'I’m really scared.'" It turns out that the former Disney star had to have a vein taken from her leg and used to build a new artery in order to keep her kidney stable.

Both women were left with scars from the procedure, and Raisa recently showed hers in an interview with SELF.

During the interview, she said that her scars were nothing to be ashamed of. "It’s a part of your story. It’s a part of the story that makes you special and you different," she explained. "I really appreciate these scars because they honestly changed my life - not just because of Selena, but me personally. Life came into perspective. I learned a lot."

As well as opening up about her experience with her best friend, Raisa also spoke openly about her relationship with her mother, her experience with breaking into acting, and other issues she has experienced with her mental and physical health - all of which made her quite emotional.

She described the last year or so as somewhat of a "storm" for her, with so many turbulent things happening and so many changes she was forced to make. And yet, she remains optimistic about her future, noting that, at the end of every storm, there's a rainbow.