Justin Bieber admits child-star struggles, using 'heavy drugs'

Justin Bieber admits to doing ‘pretty heavy drugs’ in emotional Instagram post

Sept. 3, 2019 11:13 AM PT

Justin Bieber poured his heart out Monday on social media about the effects of the sudden fame that descended on him in his teens. The pop star admitted to doing “pretty hard drugs” and talked about depression, anger and, finally, maturity.

“Hope you find time to read this it’s from my heart,” the pop star wrote before addressing how hard it is to wake up with a good attitude when you’re feeling “overwhelmed” by every element of your life.

“When it feels like there’s trouble after trouble after trouble,” he wrote. “You start foreseeing the day through lenses of ‘dread’ and anticipate another bad day.”

Bieber was discovered by Scooter Braun at age 14, and once he got rolling, he didn’t step out of the public eye for almost a decade. In the beginning, he was everywhere: first shopping malls and TV and awards shows, where the young girls went wild. Then it was the White House and movie theaters, followed by embarrassing paparazzi pics and mug shots. In 2014, there was even a petition asking that the Canadian be deported from the U.S.

“Have u noticed the statistics of child stars and the outcome of their life? There is an insane pressure and responsibility put on a child who’s brain, emotions, frontal lobes (decision making) aren’t developed yet,” he wrote.

“As my talent progressed and I became ultra successful it happened within a strand of Two years. My whole world was flipped on its head. I went from a 13 year old boy from a small town to being praised left and right by the world with millions saying how much they loved me and how great I was. I don’t know about you but humility comes with age,” he wrote.

The singer, who’s now 25, has been keeping a low profile for the last couple of years, retreating from the spotlight and quietly marrying Hailey Bieber last year. It’s a big turnaround from how he was living a few years ago, when it seemed like every week brought a new Bieber drama, whether he was getting arrested on suspicion of DUI, peeing into a janitor’s bucket at a restaurant, feeling like a “zoo animal” over pictures with fans or simply apologizing for having a “rough week.”

“[E]veryone did everything for me so I never even learned the fundamentals of responsibility,” Bieber wrote. “So by this point I was 18 with no skills in the real world, with millions of dollars and access to whatever I wanted. This is a very scary concept for anyone. 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!”

The ups and downs that come from the huge rush of being on stage were hard to manage, he said, pointing to other performers’ brushes with drug abuse.

Justin Bieber fans, including Amelia Erichsen, 13, of San Diego holds a sign reading "Be My Boyfriend," before a concert at Staples Center in an undated photo.

“I started doing pretty heavy drugs at 19 and abused all of my relationships. 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. I felt like i could never turn it around. It’s taken me years to bounce back from all of these terrible decisions,” he wrote.

Now Bieber is navigating the “best season” of his life, marriage, and through it is learning how to be a good man, he said.

“All this to say even when The odds are against you keep fighting,” he wrote. “Jesus loves you.”

Justin and his wife will mark their one-year anniversary later this month with a religious wedding ceremony and party in South Carolina.