Singer-actress Selena Gomez has said she ‘felt like a joke’ as she attempted the ‘frustrating’ transition from Disney child star to grown-up acting roles.

The 29-year-old singer-actress started her career on kids TV series Barney and Friends before starring in Disney‘s Wizards of Waverly Place, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Selena Gomez told The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Awards Chatter’ podcast: “I felt like it was very difficult for people to take me seriously. I have slowly pushed through that, and I’m really glad, but it was very frustrating. I felt like a joke, you know?”

Selena Gomez made the move from child star after Wizards of Waverly Place ended in 2012 and one of her first breakout roles was in crime drama ‘Spring Breakers’ opposite another former Disney star Vanessa Hudgens.

She has since been able to carve out a career for herself post-Disney and her most recent project is Hulu TV series ‘Only Murders In The Building’.

Elsewhere in the interview, Selena Gomez touched on another milestone in her life – her break-up with ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber and admitted the split helped shape her as a person.

She explained: “It allowed me to develop a character where I don’t tolerate any sort of nonsense or disrespect … I was, you know, obviously going through a really tough break-up, and then I was left with the question of my career and where am I gonna go and what’s gonna happen.”

The pair parted ways in 2018 and just months later, he went on to marry model Hailey Bieber.

She also went through a terrifying health scare when she was diagnosed with lupus and needed a kidney transplant.