Justin Bieber’s rise to the top was meteoric. But the singer’s journey wasn’t always smooth sailing. In a heartfelt essay shared to Instagram, Bieber opened up about how his fame almost destroyed him.
The 25-year-old spoke openly about his substance abuse as well as not respecting the women close to him. He also revealed his mental health struggles and the difficulties of navigating fame as a child star.
However, Bieber finishes by crediting his recent marriage to Hailey Baldwin, helping him to get back on the straight and narrow.
“You see I have a lot of money, clothes, cars, accolades, achievements, awards, and I was still unfulfilled,” he wrote.
“Have you noticed the statistics of child stars and the outcomes of their life? There is an insane pressure and responsibility put on a child whose brain, emotions, frontal lobes (decision making) aren’t developed yet. No rationality, defiant, rebellious, things all of us have to go through. But when you add the pressure of stardom it does something to you that is quite unexplainable.
“You see I didn’t grow up in a stable home, my parents were 18 separated with no money still young and rebellious as well. As my talent progressed and I became ultra successful, it happened within a strand of two years.
“My whole world was flipped on its head. I went from a 13 year old boy from a small town to being praised left and right by the world with millions saying how much they loved me and how great I was. I don’t know about you but humility comes with age. You hear these things enough as a young boy and you actually start believing it.”
“Rationality comes with age and so does your decision making process (one of the reasons you can’t drink until you’re 21 .. everyone did everything for me so I never even learned the fundamentals of responsibility. So by this point I was 18 with no skills in the real world, with millions of dollars and access to whatever I wanted. That is a very scary concept for anyone.
“By 20, I made every bad decision you could have thought of and went from one of the most loved and adored people in the world to the most ridiculed, judged and hated person in the world! Being on stage according to studies is the biggest dopamine rush than almost any other activity … so these massive ups and downs on their own are very hard to manage. You notice a lot of touring bands and people end up having a phase of drug abuse, and I believe it’s due to not being able to manage the huge ups and downs that come with being an entertainer.
“I started doing pretty heavy drugs at 19 and abused all of my relationships. I became resentful, disrespectful to women, and angry. I became distant to everyone who loved me, and I was hiding behind a shell of a person that I had become. I felt like I could never turn it around. It’s taken me years to bounce back from all of these terrible decisions, fix broken relationships, and change relationship habits.
“Luckily god blessed me with extraordinary people who love me for me. Now I am navigating the best season of my life: “MARRIAGE!” Which is an amazing crazy new responsibility. You learn patience, trust, commitment, kindness, humility, and all of the things it looks like to be a good man.”
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