When four blacked-out people carriers pulled up outside the private members’ club, my first thought was that the American President was going to step out. Him or a senior Royal, perhaps.
As I stood by the door, intrigued, a small man wearing a huge coat emerged from one of the vehicles. It was, I saw immediately, Justin Bieber. I was shoved out of the way by his bouncers who formed a ring around him as he entered the bar.
It was 2016 – and the chart-topping pop colossus, then 21, was in the UK and looking for some downtime. That night, my friends inside the Electric in London’s Notting Hill told me they watched Bieber sitting in a corner sipping a clear fizzy drink – desperate, perhaps, for a taste of normality.
This distant memory leapt to mind yesterday when I saw the new – and deeply worrying – pictures of Justin in New York.
The shaven-headed singer was wearing a bright yellow hoodie, oversized cargo trousers and fuzzy slipper-like shoes. He looked gaunt, distracted and hollow-eyed – and crudely grabbed his crotch.
The grim display was a far cry from his early days as a cherubic teen heartthrob who became a phenomenon at the tender age of 16 when his catchy hit Baby catapulted him to global fame.
Justin Bieber in New York wearing a bright yellow hoodie, oversized cargo trousers and crudely grabbing his crotch
The shaven-headed singer looked gaunt, distracted and hollow-eyed
The images this week went viral, sparking further speculation that all is not well in Justin’s seven-year marriage to model wife Hailey.
Justin’s friends, I hear, are concerned for his wellbeing. Many had hoped he would escape the fate of other troubled ex-child stars including Britney Spears and Nickelodeon’s Amanda Bynes, both of whom have struggled with mental health issues.
‘He is rich and famous but was robbed of his youth,’ one former employee at Justin’s record label tells me. ‘He had no idea what ‘normal’ was. This was always the fear about him, that he would fall.’
Some suggest his marriage may be showing cracks, amid unsubstantiated speculation on social media that the couple might have spent Christmas apart – although Hailey appeared to slap this down in a cryptic post apparently aimed at her critics, showing a man laughing while repeating the phrase: ‘You’re not well, and it’s OK.’
Sources close to Justin, meanwhile, say that he has been appalled to witness the downfall of disgraced rapper P Diddy, real name Sean Combs – whom Bieber met as an ingenue teenager but who has now been charged with a host of sex trafficking and racketeering offenses, with upwards of 120 alleged victims already coming forward. Combs denies the claims.
Justin is said to be ‘disgusted’ by the claims and has been ‘advised to stay as far away as possible’ from the shamed artist. Another source added that Bieber was ‘in a hard place mentally’.
As someone who has followed Justin’s career from the start, I was not surprised by the latest worrying pictures. To some, Bieber – now thought to be worth some $300million – seemingly epitomises the old adage, so often seen in child stars, about gaining the world and losing one’s soul.
Justin in his early days as a cherubic teen heartthrob who became a phenomenon at the tender age of 16 when his catchy hit Baby catapulted him to global fame
There have been suggestions that Justin’s marriage to supermodel Hailey has been showing cracks with speculation on social media that the couple might have spent Christmas apart
Whispers about his troubles began early in his career, with his behaviour on several major tours and publicity drives later denting his squeaky clean image. In one bewildering episode in 2014, the star’s pet monkey was confiscated and rehomed at a German zoo where experts described the poor creature as frightened and disorientated.
On the same tour, police were called to London’s Rosewood Hotel in the early hours to disband a wild party, which included four glamorous female fans he had picked up after his gig and brought back to his suite.
As police arrived at around 6am amid threats from hotel management, the star’s team whisked him to a private jet at Luton airport – avoiding any further legal embarrassments.
In 2020, on his last major publicity drive in the UK, Bieber made a bold effort to rebuild his image with a carefully choreographed PR push around his 2020 album Changes – a more reflective, self-aware offering in the wake of his 2018 marriage to model Hailey Baldwin.
At the time those close to the then 25-year-old star were keen to stress that his relationship had mellowed him.
But away from the adoring crowds and invited Press photographers, Justin paced angrily and restlessly in a plush backstage green room – desperately trying to contact his wife back in the US for reassurance and ignoring members of his entourage who were attempting to steer him towards the next interview.
Sources close to Justin say that he has been appalled to witness the downfall of disgraced rapper P Diddy whom Bieber met as an ingenue teenager but who has now been charged with a host of sex trafficking and racketeering offenses
The senior executives of his record label Universal Music were in attendance to cheer the superstar who had made them millions – but he had limited patience for small-talking with suits.
And there were other signs of instability on display – as a huge convoy of blacked-out vehicles arrived to escort the star from one venue to the next alongside his vast entourage, made up of close friends and menacing security staff.
Plumes of cannabis smoke allegedly followed in their wake as the crew raced across town – making time to head to a five-star hotel for Justin to take time out of the spotlight before a planned gig at the city’s O2 arena that evening.
As one British star who knows him explains, the endless attention and litany of hangers-on mask a loneliness for the singer – who appears to struggle for genuine comfort away from his wife.
For many years, his long-time manager Scooter, who discovered him in 2008, was his other most trusted confidant – but the pair’s relationship has been strained in recent years.
Tellingly, earlier this month Bieber ‘unfollowed’ his former mentor on social media in a clear and deliberate public snub.
A source explains: ‘He’s actually quite a lonely guy despite everything. When he comes into town he throws parties and invites a couple of us who he knows a bit from the entertainment business to come along, but none of us are really what you’d call friends – it’s all quite manufactured.
‘You’ll get a message from an assistant saying Justin wants you to come along to a party with him, which is cool: obviously he’s a big star and he’s a nice guy, but when you get there you find all these people partying and they’ve all been invited along from God knows where but he doesn’t actually know any of them.
‘He usually ends up sitting in a corner somewhere looking quite uncomfortable – even though the pictures and the press stories will make it look like he’s having the time of his life.
‘It feels like he needs a few more people nearby he can really trust and rely on.’
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