Selena Gomez Is Still Rooting for Justin Bieber

— -- Despite wanting to change the subject, Selena Gomez just can't stop talking about her ex Justin Bieber.

In a recent New York Times interview, the 23-year-old pop star made it clear she's still rooting for her ex, even if they haven't been a couple for years.

"While people were writing that I was stupid for being in it (the relationship), this is what I always saw in him," she told the Times about his recent career revival. "I'm like, duh!"

Gomez recently told Elle magazine that even though she and Bieber are no longer a couple, they are "genuinely" friends.

"I’ll forever support him and love him," she told the magazine's October issue. "We grew up together."

Gomez and Bieber, 21, first confirmed their relationship in 2011 but split the next year. In 2013, they got back together briefly.

The former Disney star said the moment she finally got over Bieber was at the American Music Awards, right before she sang her hit 2014 single "The Heart Wants What It Wants." At the end of the performance, she was in tears.

"Everybody was talking about the same thing: my relationship," she told Elle. "I was so exhausted. I said, 'I want this [performance] to be the last time I have to talk about this. And acknowledge this feeling.'"

She added, "I was kind of devastated. I was like, 'This is all I have right now. This is gonna be it. And all I want is to move on.'"

Gomez has moved on in her career as well -- leaving Disney, replacing her mother as manager and recording a new album, "Revival," for Interscope Records.

"I knew deep down that this wasn’t what I wanted to do -- being exhausted of forcing something that wasn’t right, even in my personal life," she told the Times about making the changes. "I had to have moments where I was crying and I was like, ‘Why am I not in love with what I do?’ I was forced to get very uncomfortable for a while in order to make the decisions I made."

Now, she said, "I make the decision. Everything goes through me."