Selena Gomez gives raw AMAs speech: 'I had everything, but I was absolutely broken inside'

It's good to have you back, Selena Gomez.

The 24-year-old 'Kill 'Em With Kindness' singer gave a powerful, emotionally raw speech as she picked up the award for Favourite Female Artist – Pop/Rock at the American Music Awards 2016.

In her first appearance since she took a career break in August to go to rehab to deal with lupus and mental health issues, Selena shared her difficult journey with honesty, humility, and a lot of inner strength.

"In 2014, this stage was actually the first time I was 100 percent authentically honest with all of you," she said, referring to her memorable performance of her breakup ballad 'The Heart Wants What It Wants'.

"I think it's safe to say [that] most of you know a lot of my life, whether I liked it or not. And I had to stop. Because I had everything, but I was absolutely broken inside.

"And I kept it all together enough so I would never let you down, but I kept it too much together to where I let myself down."

Selena, who is the most-followed person on Instagram with 103 million followers, went on to make a statement about all the social media adoration.

"I don't want to see your bodies on Instagram. I want to see what's in here [pointing to her heart]," she explained.

"I'm not trying to get validation nor do I need it anymore. All I can say from the bottom of my heart is I'm so grateful I have the opportunity to share what I love every single day with people that I love."

Selena thanked her fans for being "loyal" during her personal battles.

"If you are broken, you do not have to stay broken," she concluded. "If that's anything, whether you respect me or not, that's one thing you should know about me, is I care about people and thank you so much for this. This is for you, thank you."

And that's what you call a well-deserved win.

Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande looked especially moved – although Selena's ex Justin Bieber wasn't seen during the speech.