Selena Gomez made a triumphant return to the spotlight at Sunday night’s American Music Awards.

The 24-year-old announced she was taking a break from her career back in August, to deal with anxiety, panic attacks and depression, brought on by lupus.

Accepting the award for Favourite Female Artist, Selena gave an emotional and powerful speech, where she said she had been “broken” inside.

“In 2014, this stage was actually the first time that I was authentically 100 percent honest with all of you,” Selena began.

“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, and I was absolutely broken inside.”

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“I don't want to see your bodies on Instagram,” she continued. "I want to see what's in here. I'm not trying to get validation nor do I need it anymore.”

The singer then thanked her fans for their loyalty and told them: “I don't know what I did to deserve you.”

“But if you are broken, you do not have to stay broken,” Selena added. “And if that's anything whether you respect me or not that's one thing you need to know about me is that I care about people.”

According to E! News, after Selena delivered her speech, she was met with a hug from One Direction’s Niall Horan backstage, who told her, "You did so good!”.

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During the speech Lady GaGa was seen in the audience cheering on her pal.

She later shared a photo of the pair together backstage on Instagram, and wrote: “So dope I got to hang with with the biggest rockstar of the night. (Ya,know besides Sting and Green Day) ...the girl with the biggest prize of all a BIG Heart that she shares with the world.”

A photo posted by xoxo, Joanne (@ladygaga) on