Celebrity
The ‘Disturbing’ Way That Justin Bieber Was Treated As A Child Star Sparks A Conversation
People couldn’t help but share their discomfort and sadness at how Justin was treated.
Fans’ focus has recently shifted from Justin Bieber’s relationship with his wife Hailey to his career, with most taking a look at his rise to fame in 2009 when he was 15. The singer was 12 when he was found by talent agent Scooter Braun, who then guided him to child star success. By the time he was 18, Justin already had an estimated net worth of $40 million, including awards, celebrity friends, and millions of fans worldwide.
As teens were hit with Bieber fever, so were a few adults, and the way the young Justin was treated by these adults is now being analyzed.
Someone compiled old videos of the singer days after his 29th birthday, and it shows Justin being repeatedly exposed to inappropriate behavior, with the singer himself even speaking about his discomfort on several occasions. One of the videos has the caption, “He was just a kid.” It has since garnered over 3 million views, and viewers didn’t hold back in expressing their outrage at Justin’s treatment.
Another clip showed Justin, then 15, being asked by a woman radio host about s*x. The host said to him, “My parents never gave me the s*x talk. “Why don’t you give me the s*x talk?”
And in response, Justin admitted he was uncomfortable with the question, saying, “I feel uncomfortable right now. Why do you want to know the s*x talk from a 15-year-old boy? “That’s pretty weird.” In a separate radio show when he was the same age, Justin was also asked if he liked French girls. When he replied that he does, the host said: “Why?” Because they have big boobs? The host then added: “Do you know how to French kiss?”
In a follow-up video, Justin said of the above conversation: “They were asking some really weird questions. I’m only 15. My mom was, like, right there.”
In another interview, an underage Justin was warned by a radio presenter to wear condoms and in another instance, a male host repeatedly told the singer he has beautiful and great lips.
A clip of Justin at 16 was also featured in TikTok. It shows the star at the 2011 BRIT Awards, hosted by James Corden, who could be seen sitting beside Justin at his table and repeatedly telling him how amazing he smells. Visibly, the youngster was uncomfortable as James asked how old he was, and just as Justin responded, the British comic exclaimed, “I don’t ever remember smelling that good at 16, before adding, “Wow, look at your eyes!”
In 2012, Katy Perry was snapped on camera grabbing Justin’s b*tt when they met backstage at a London concert.
The same year, at the AMAs, Jenny McCarthy grabbed Justin and repeatedly kissed his neck. She also pawed at his b*tt when she presented him with an award.
McCarthy was 40 and Justin just turned 18. As seen in a clip of the moment, the singer was very much uncomfortable and had struggled to break free from McCarthy’s grasp.
Justin was shocked by the groping that he kicked off his acceptance speech with: “Wow, I feel violated right now.”
After facing some backlash, McCarthy later told Access Hollywood that her emotions took over and added: “I couldn’t help it, he was just so delicious.” Justin yet again faced an awkward situation in 2015 when he made an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Before his interview, paparazzi had taken nude pics of him without his consent and Ellen presented them on the big screen.
The compilation also showed a screenshot of record label exec L.A. Reid’s quotes from his 2016 memoir, Sing to Me. In it, Reid recalled Justin being beautiful, like a woman at the age of 14.
In the book, L.A. Reid said his first impression of Justin was “this kid was beautiful, like a woman can be beautiful and men rarely are, and he turned it on as soon as he stepped into the room. Justin was simply beautiful. His superpower was his face.” The TikTok concluded with a 2020 video of Justin in tears as he spoke of his desire to protect Billie Eilish.
The singer insisted he doesn’t want Eilish, then 18, to have the same experience he did as a young person in the music industry.
“I definitely feel protective of her,” Justin said during his Beats 1 interview with Apple Music. He added: “It was hard for me being that young and being in the industry and not knowing where to turn and everyone telling me they loved me and you know, just turning their back on you in a second. I just want to protect her. I don’t want her to lose it. I don’t want her to go through anything I went through. I don’t wish that upon anybody.”
After viewing the video, many people went to comment to share their sadness, with one writing: “This is so uncomfortable to watch poor boy.”
Some people praised Justin for calling the inappropriate questions at the time, with one also writing: “These celebrities defo crossed big lines with JB.”
However, Justin has over the last two weeks found himself in a news cycle after a long-rumored feud between his wife, Hailey, and his ex-girlfriend, Selena Gomez, exploded online. The singer sparked controversy in 2018 when he married Hailey six months after he broke up with Selena, whom he dated on and off for seven years.
In February, Hailey and her friend Kylie Jenner were slammed for being mean girls toward Selena following some seriously shady Instagram activity.
Meanwhile, Selena deactivated her TikTok after people said she was encouraging hate toward Hailey.
This drama sparked renewed interest in Justin and Hailey’s life with every aspect of their relationship being scrutinized. People have been circulating receipts that showed that Hailey was a hardcore Justin fan for years even before they got together and old videos of Justin and Hailey’s awkward interactions were reposted to social media.
