If it seems to you like Justin Bieber has been going through it, and has been going through it for a while now, you would be completely correct. In an emotional Instagram post published Monday, the singer unpacks what he sees as the lasting personal repercussions of having made the leap from an unstable home to international pop stardom at the age of 13. Turns out, the cautionary tale of the child star is a cliché for a reason. “You see I have a lot of money, clothes, cars, accolades, achievements, awards and I was still unfulfilled,” writes Bieber. “Have u noticed the statistics of child stars and the outcome of their life? There is an insane pressure and responsibility put on a child who’s brain, emotions, frontal lobes (decision making) aren’t developed. No rationality, rebellious, things all of us have to go through. But when you add the pressure of stardom it does something to you that’s quite unexplainable.”
Bieber writes that when he reached adulthood, it was as a young man focused since adolescence on the “dopamine rush” of performing and the accumulation of wealth. “Rationality comes with age and so does your decision making process (one of the reasons you can’t drink until your 21),” he writes. “So by this point I was 18 with no skills in the real world, with millions of dollars and access to whatever I wanted. This is a very scary concept for anyone.” With adulthood came depression, and with depression, the use of “pretty heavy drugs,” beginning at 19.
“I became resentful, disrespectful to women, and angry,” he writes. “I became distant to everyone who loved me and I was hiding behind, a shell of a person that I had become.” Bieber credits his yearslong recovery to the “extraordinary people who love me for me” and “the best season of my life ‘MARRIAGE’!!” to wife Hailey Baldwin. Concludes the singer, “All this is to say even when the odds are against you keep fighting. Jesus loves you.” You can read the full post below.
