Selena Gomez has long seen motherhood in her future, regardless of if she had a man by her side.

“I was alone for five years, and I got really used to it,” Gomez, 31, told TIME in a Wednesday, May 29, profile. “A lot of people are afraid of being alone and I probably tortured myself in my head for like two years being alone, and then I kind of accepted it. Then I came up with my plan, which was I was going to adopt at 35 if I had not met anyone.”

Gomez had embraced her single status before she started seeing now-boyfriend Benny Blanco. Gomez and Blanco, 35, had worked together multiple times since 2015. She confirmed in December 2023 that they had been secretly dating for six months.

“It just happens when you least expect it,” Gomez told TIME, noting she initially saw Blanco as a friend and once asked him to play matchmaker for her. “I just cherish every moment with him. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that he’s not going anywhere any time soon.”

Blanco (real name Benjamin Levin) recently revealed that he can see himself getting married to Gomez and having kids together.

“I wanna have kids, that’s my next goal,” Blanco said on Sirius XM’s The Howard Stern Show earlier this month. “I have a lot of godkids; I got a ton of nephews. I love being around kids.”

Blanco, however, isn’t ready to get down on one knee just yet, telling Stern, 70, that he needs to “get [his] act together]” first.

Gomez isn’t concerned about her boyfriend’s timeline — or his candidness.

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

“He can’t lie to save his life,” she said with a laugh to TIME. “If he’s asked a question, he’ll answer it.”

Gomez, meanwhile, has learned to be more cautious following her years in the spotlight and navigating past public relationships. (She has previously been linked to Justin Bieber, Nick Jonas and The Weeknd.)

“I know what people can do to people I love,” Gomez said. “My own fans, who I adore and feel like have shaped who I am, will say the most hurtful things to me about how I live my life. But [Benny] has the strength in him that none of that noise fazes him. It’s really impressive.”

While Gomez is not in a rush to reach certain milestones with Blanco, a source told Us Weekly that her inner circle can see it happening one day.

“[Selena’s] friends and family couldn’t be [more excited] for her,” an insider exclusively told Us earlier this month. “She definitely sees this relationship going the distance. They’ve talked about marriage and having children and are very much on the same page.”