Justin Bieber Opens Up About Drug Use and Depression
Justin Bieber is getting candid about life in the spotlight and his battle with drugs and depression.
On Monday, the 25-year-old singer penned a lengthy note on Instagram in which he discusses the difficult journey of becoming famous at a young age to becoming an “ultra successful” superstar with millions of dollars and fans.
He opened the letter by revealing that he battles depression daily. “It’s hard to get out of bed in the morning with the right attitude when you are overwhelmed with your life, your past, job, responsibilities, emotions, your family, finances, your relationships,” said Bieber. “When it feels like there’s trouble after trouble after trouble. You star foreseeing the day through lenses of ‘dread’ and anticipate another bad day. A cycle of feeling disappointment after disappointment. Sometimes it can even get to the point where you don’t even want to live anymore. Where you feel like it’s never going to change.”
The product of an unstable home, he shot to fame after being discovered at the age of 13. “My whole world was flipped on its head,” he explained. “I went from a 13 year old boy from a small town to being praised left and right with millions saying how much they loved me and how great I was.”
At 18, with “no skills in the real world” and “millions of dollars and access to whatever I wanted,” he admitted that he spiraled out of control. “I started doing pretty heavy drugs at 19 and abused all my relationships,” he said, adding, “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.”
He also acknowledged some of his past scandals. “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.”
But he was able to turn his life around, thanks to “extraordinary people who love me” including his wife Hailey Baldwin. “Now I am navigating the best season of my life ‘MARRIAGE’ !! Which is an amazing, crazy, new responsibility,” he wrote. “You learn patience, trust, commitment, kindness, humility, and all of the things it looks like to be a good man.”
He ended with some words of encouragement for others. “All this to say even when the odds are against you, keep fighting. Jesus loves you,” said Bieber. “Be kind today, be bold today and love people today, not by your standards but by God’s perfect unfailing love.”
Read his full letter below.