WHY JUSTIN’S ONLY NOW DEALING WITH HIS CHILDHOOD DEMONS
For anyone who has ever spent time with Justin Bieber, the news last week that he is seeking treatment for severe depression will come as little surprise.
On the surface everything appeared to be going so well: the singer, together with his wife of five months, Hailey Baldwin, is the cover star of the latest issue of US Vogue, in which they celebrate their ‘whirlwind romance’. Certainly, since the summer, Hollywood – along with the rest of the world – has invested in their relationship, thanks to their daily displays of public affection, from LA to London.
However, after the pair recently cancelled plans for an extravagant second wedding bash in California, it has emerged that the former teen star, 24, is receiving help for depression. Hailey, the model daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, encouraged her husband to seek help after realising he was displaying classic signs of undiagnosed depression – moodiness, sleeping in till late afternoon, lack of motivation and outbreaks of stress spots.
A US source told Grazia last week, ‘Justin has found himself in a deep funk. He has always found it difficult to cope with his celebrity status. He struggles to remember a time that his life wasn’t dominated by fame, and his moods are up and down. But now, his tolerance for feeling like this is shrinking in a big way. It’s time to do something about it.’
It’s only too reminiscent of when I met Justin, when he was 19 and clearly deeply at odds with the life he was leading. Back then, he was just transitioning from squeaky-clean teen to tearaway superstar. We met in his dressing room in a major venue in Tacoma, Washington state, with thousands of fans screaming outside. ‘ This has been my life since I was 14. I don’t know any other life,’ he told me.
He didn’t look happy. I remember asking him what gave him a thrill and he shrugged. ‘I can’t think of anything.’ He then spent the next 10 minutes telling me how terrified he was every time he got on a plane because he kept thinking he was going to die in a mid-air crash. At the time, he was flying somewhere new every other day.
I then spoke to his mother, Pattie Mallette, who had, up until then, been a constant figure in his life, along with his Svengali manager Scooter Braun, who discovered Justin at 14. A tearaway teenager herself, Pattie told me she’d experimented with drink and drugs and suffered from suicidal depression. It was only when she got pregnant with Justin – by bad boy Jeremy Bieber – that she found God and swore herself to celibacy and devotion to her son and Jesus. That sort of peace, is seems, has proved more elusive for her son.
Having known each other for 10 years and dated on and off, it was believed that Hailey could provide stability. And, despite both admitting that their marriage is already hard (‘Really effing hard,’ shares Hailey), she appears to have recognised the demons in her husband.
‘He’s always been a vulnerable kid. Now he’s a vulnerable adult,’ said a family friend. ‘He’s never really been content except when he’s on stage. All anyone wants is for him to finally find what makes him happy.’
Now he is dealing with an issue that has clearly dogged him for years. Let’s just hope he finally gets the help he needs.