Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Wild child Bieber ‘too ashamed’to contact mother
LONDON: Earlier this year he thanked his mother for not giving up on him and for helping him end his “stupid phase”.
But sadly, in a new interview with Billboard, Justin Bieber has shed light on how his once close relationship with Pattie Mallette has changed over the past two years.
The 21-year-old heartthrob said his connection with his mother is now “pretty nonexisting”, explaining to the magazine: “I was distant because I was ashamed. I never wanted my mom to be disappointed in me and I knew she was.”
Bieber’s wild-child behaviour was welldocumented between 2013 and 2014, including an arrest for driving under the influence, heavy partying and being convicted of egging a neighbour’s house. The singer said: “We spent some time not talking, so it takes time to rebuild that trust.”
A born-again Christian, Mallette gave birth to Bieber when she was 17 and raised him as a single mother with her parents’ support in low-income housing in Ontario, Canada.
She is credited with nurturing the young boy’s musical talent and would post videos of him online – one of which talent manager Scooter Braun saw helping to launch Bieber to international stardom.
He said of his mother: “She’s living in Hawaii now, so it’s hard, but getting better. She’s an amazing woman and I love her.”
While he has been estranged from his mother, Bieber is very close to his father, Jeremy Bieber.
And though he conceded his father was “not in a place to raise a kid”, the performer believed the misconception he was a “deadbeat dad” was unfair.
He told Billboard: “He was immature. He left for like a year when I was about 4, went to British Columbia, came back on Father’s Day.
“I remember my mom said, ‘If you’re going to be here, you have to be here.”
“There’s a misconception that he’s this deadbeat dad, but he has been in my life since. I was with him on weekends and Wednesdays.”
In May, the Where Are U Now hit maker wished his mother a happy Mother’s Day in Instagram messages.
He said: “This woman taught me everything I know, how to love, how to be compassionate, how to be strong when the only thing u wanna be is weak, how to stand when all you want to do is fall.
“If it wasn’t for this woman let’s just say I would have had a way longer stupid phase,” he said. “I love u and thank u for not giving up on me.”
During the interview Justin also spoke about his struggle with fame and how it almost destroyed him.
“It might seem awesome from the outside but I’m struggling. I came out alive. But I was close to letting it completely destroy me,” he said – Daily Mail