Medicine Hat News

Teen now a true Belieber of Valentine’s dreams-come-true

- MO CRANKER mcranker@medicineha­tnews.com Twitter: MHNmocrank­er

It was a Valentine’s Day to remember for one Hat family.

While vacationin­g in Las Vegas, the Beriault family decided to spend a day in Las Angeles with the goal of seeing some new sights and possibly see some of Hollywood’s biggest celebritie­s.

“Yesterday (Wednesday) our daughter Emilie mentioned that she wanted to go to Hollywood Boulevard, but we were there the night before, so we decided to go to Sunset Boulevard instead,” said Hatter Jean Beriault.

“After we did some driving around, we decided to go and check out where the stars were sometimes at, at Sunset Plaza. We found a small cafe near Equinox Gym where a lot of stars work out, ate a bit, cleaned up and headed out thinking we weren’t going to be seeing any celebritie­s. Then Emilie turned to us and said she might have seen Justin Bieber.”

Emilie quickly learned that her hunch was right, as the Canadian pop music star began taking pictures and talking with a few people.

“I was just so nervous, I was shaking,” said 15-year-old Emilie. “I’ve been listening to his music since I was really, really little, so this whole thing has been really cool. I just couldn’t believe it when I saw him, then we got to meet him — it was a really great night.”

Emilie attends Crescent Heights and says Bieber was a really great guy.

“He is a really humble and down-toearth person. He didn’t make it uncomforta­ble, even though I was so starstruck,” said Emilie. “I got a bunch of calls from friends last night after I posted the picture — I think they’re all pretty jealous, but they’re all happy for me.”

Though he is not the world’s biggest Bieber fan, Zach says he was also excited to meet the pop star.

“I wasn’t really sure what we were doing or where we were going, but then I turned the corner with my mom and sister I saw him just standing there,” said Zach. “I was just sort of like, ‘what the heck?’ Then he asked me if I was there to get a coffee and I just nodded, even though I wasn’t — I was just so starstruck.”

Twenty-three-year-old Bieber is from Stratford, Ont., and Jean says he did not have a hard time figuring out the Beriault family was also from the Great White North.

“When we were talking to Justin I kept apologizin­g to him for interrupti­ng,” said Jean. “As Canadians, we apologize, so Justin pretty quickly recognized us as Canadian because of us apologizin­g and him being Canadian. He actually said “you must be Canadians,” which was again, pretty cool for us.”

Emilie’s picture was posted on multiple Justin Bieber fan-run Instagram accounts, where it was liked by more than 20,000 people. The picture was also posted on Elle.com, and can be seen in this article www.elle.com/culture/celebritie­s/a18 027249/selena-gomez-and-justin-biebernot-spending-valentines-day-in-nyc/

 ?? SUBMITTED PHOTO ?? Hatter Emilie Beriault takes a selfie with Justin Bieber in Los Angeles Wednesday. It was a Valentine’s Day to remember for Emilie and the rest of her family, as they got to meet one of Canada’s biggest stars.
SUBMITTED PHOTO Hatter Emilie Beriault takes a selfie with Justin Bieber in Los Angeles Wednesday. It was a Valentine’s Day to remember for Emilie and the rest of her family, as they got to meet one of Canada’s biggest stars.

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