'Screw It': Benny Blanco Reveals the Crucial Question Selena Gomez Asked Before They Went Public

Benny Blanco has revealed that he and Selena Gomez spent nearly nine months quietly dating in Los Angeles before going public, and says his now wife asked him a blunt question about whether he was sure he wanted their relationship in the spotlight.

The producer, 38, and the singer and actor, 33, kept fans guessing for months before Gomez finally confirmed their romance in late 2023. Two years later they were married, tying the knot on 27 September 2025, and have since settled into one of pop culture's more unexpected but oddly grounded power couples.

In a new and exclusive interview with Spanish newspaper El País, Blanco, whose real name is Benjamin Levin, said the pair were deliberate about staying under the radar at the start. They did not rush soft launches or couple selfies. Instead, they tested whether their relationship could survive in private before allowing the internet anywhere near it.

'We kept our relationship private for a long time, about eight or nine months,' he told the outlet.

The Moment Blanco and Gomez Stopped Hiding

The news came after Blanco recalled the turning point, when Gomez raised the issue of what going public would actually mean for him, a producer more used to liner notes than tabloid headlines.

According to El País, Gomez sat him down and asked: 'Are you sure you want to do this? I understand if you want us to just be friends.' It was a practical question, not a romcom line. She knows what happens when her name is attached to anything. Blanco's response was instinctive.

'And then I said, "You know what? Screw it,"' he remembered. 'We're lucky because we both have friends and family we've known since before all this, and we're surrounded by a good group of people we love.'

That 'screw it' sits at the heart of their story. The producer had spent most of his career behind the scenes, racking up 12 Grammy nominations and a long list of hits while other people fronted the cameras. Gomez, by contrast, grew up inside the machine.

She broke out on Disney Channel's 'Wizards of Waverly Place,' moved into adult roles, and now stars as Mabel Mora in 'Only Murders in the Building.' On the music side she has three Grammy nominations, including a 2026 nod for Best Dance-Pop Recording for 'Bluest Flame,' her collaboration with Blanco.

On television, she is the most Emmy-nominated Latina in history, with six nominations in total, including five for producing and starring in 'Only Murders in the Building,' plus recognition for her HBO Max series 'Selena + Chef' and the animated film 'Hotel Transylvania: Transformania.' So when she asked if he really wanted in, it was not about the relationship; it was about the circus that comes with it.

Learning to Live With Selena Gomez-Level Fame

Blanco is still working out how to exist as 'Benny Blanco, public figure,' not just 'Benny Blanco, studio guy.' He told El País that social media scrutiny still makes him uncomfortable. 'I don't like to expose my life,' he said. 'Famous people are under constant scrutiny: if you say one thing, it's wrong, and if you say another, it's also wrong.'

There is a weary truth to that, and he knows he is late to the game. Blanco described himself as part of a 'transitional generation where social media didn't exist when I was a child,' so his instincts lean towards privacy. Most of his posts remain tied to his work. The exceptions, he said, are 'occasionally' sharing a photo of his wife or a particularly good meal.

The couple's decision to hide in plain sight early on looks wiser in hindsight. By the time they confirmed their relationship, they already had nearly a year of normal dates and quiet conversations behind them, away from comment sections and 'what does this mean?' TikToks.

They eventually married in September 2025, around two years after they started dating and roughly the same span since they first decided, somewhat reluctantly, to become public property together.

How Selena Gomez Helped Shape 'Hermoso'

Blanco's relationship with Gomez is now bleeding into his creative life too, even if he is coy about it. His new Spanish-language album, 'Hermoso,' is due out on 14 August and will explore genres he grew up hearing but has not fully embraced on record before.

He told El País the album blends styles from across the Spanish-speaking world, including cumbia, which originated on Colombia's Caribbean coast. The project is personal rather than opportunistic, he stressed.

'I grew up in an area with a large Latin population, so that music has surrounded me since I was a child,' he said. 'You'd get in the car and Jeanette would be playing, in another car, cumbia would be on... I was always drawn to the drums and how the rhythms interacted with each other.'

On Latin culture more broadly, he added: 'It's a culture that's always full of fresh ideas and people who aren't afraid to go against the grain.' Gomez, who has her own history with Spanish-language music through her 2021 EP 'Revelación' and frequently references her Mexican heritage, is rumoured to appear on 'Hermoso.'

Beyond the album, Blanco is leaning into something more self-help adjacent. On 15 September he will publish Fck Failure*, a hybrid of memoir and motivational manual that aims to push readers to follow their passions through the lens of his own path through the music business.

Taken together, it is a lot of exposure for someone who still insists he would 'like to have more privacy.' Yet he appears to be making his peace with a new kind of fame, one where you can keep most of your life off-grid and still occasionally post a loved-up photo or a plate of food without the whole thing swallowing you whole.

Whether that balance holds, now that every offhand quote about his marriage can make a headline, is another question. For the moment, at least, he seems content with the decision that started it all, that quiet conversation where Selena Gomez asked if he was sure, and Benny Blanco chose to say yes. Or rather, 'screw it.'