From YouTube sensation to global superstar, Justin Bieber's journey through fame has been anything but smooth. We explore how early stardom, intense media scrutiny, and industry pressure affected the pop icon's mental health, career choices, and personal struggles, leading to his recent concerning behavior and career decisions.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're breaking down the career of Canadian pop sensation Justin
00:11Bieber and the dark turns it's alleged to have taken along the way.
00:30He's sold over 150 million records worldwide. He's won literally hundreds of music industry awards and accolades. He's the youngest solo act to have eight Billboard 200 No. 1 albums. So with all of that in mind, it might come as a shock to learn that Justin Bieber's recording career started off as a virtual fluke.
00:50And I'm so sick of love, so nice, so tired of tears.
00:57Record executive Scott Scooter Braun, browsing YouTube in 2008, happened to click on a video of Bieber performing an acoustic cover of Nioh's So Sick.
01:06Things happened at a whirlwind pace from then on, with Braun and R&B megastar Usher signing Bieber to their joint record label.
01:13Soon after, Bieber was releasing successful singles, hitting the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 without having an album out, a more or less unheard of feat in the music industry.
01:29By the time his debut EP, My World, was released in 2009, Bieber was a bona fide sensation, adhering to a punishing touring schedule and seemingly countless television appearances.
01:40The singer was also exposed to the more difficult aspects of fame, particularly the excessive hate and vitriol.
01:47Bieber's runaway smash single, Baby, featuring rapper Ludacris, became the most viewed video on YouTube in July 2010, and also the most disliked.
02:04Being the most searched for celebrity online will be a lot to handle for anybody.
02:08Now imagine just being 16 years old, when you've earned that distinction.
02:12As Bieber's career reached new heights, so did the immense pressure he was under.
02:16By 2013, the cracks were beginning to show.
02:19Justin Bieber is accused, in a story in Star Magazine, of fathering a child, there he is, the fresh face, Justin Bieber, 17 years old, accused of fathering a child with a 20-year-old woman.
02:32She's been threatening to slap him with a paternity lawsuit.
02:35She wants him to take a paternity test.
02:38A series of relatively innocent scandals, save for a bizarre allegation that Bieber had fathered a child at 17, appeared to simply be the behavior of a young man acting out.
02:47The real trouble began in 2014, when Bieber was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida, and charged with driving under the influence and resisting arrest.
02:56It's the first video of Justin Bieber's alleged drag race down a Miami Beach street.
03:01You see Bieber's rented yellow Lamborghini and his friend's red Ferrari flash by, and then their entourage's SUVs.
03:08Finally, the police crews are racing to catch up.
03:10A frivolous petition, signed by an estimated 270,000 people, demanded that the White House deport Bieber back to Canada for his behavior.
03:22The incumbent Obama administration declined to comment.
03:25That wouldn't be the end of it, though.
03:26By the end of 2014, Bieber had been charged with vandalism, arrested again for dangerous driving in his native Stratford, Ontario, and accused of assaulting an Argentinian paparazzo.
03:36While these cases were largely resolved by Bieber, usually by paying a fine or engaging community service, they clearly demonstrated that being in the spotlight 24-7 is hardly healthy for someone of his age.
03:47Mr. Bieber, you are charged with the following.
03:49DUI, alcohol, or drugs, resisting without violence, and driving with an expired driver's license.
03:56Police say Bieber admitted to having alcohol, pot, and prescription medication in his system.
04:02If convicted, he faces up to six months in jail.
04:04A 2019 Instagram post to Bieber's official Instagram account appeared to address years of bad behavior on the singer's part.
04:11Over a lengthy wall of text, Bieber reflected on the past decade, opening with,
04:16It'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.
04:27Bieber attempted to put his actions in context, noting the lack of a support system available to child stars working in Hollywood,
04:33and the virtually unfathomable experience of becoming world famous at such a young age.
04:38Do you feel that you were self-destructing?
04:41Oh, for sure. Yeah, I would have, for sure. 100%. Yeah.
04:46100%.
04:47It would have been, it would have been, no, but no.
04:51It was bad.
04:52It would have been, yeah.
04:54I don't know if I'd be alive, for sure.
04:56He even admitted to heavy substance use.
04:59In a YouTube docu-series, Bieber noted that upon waking up,
05:03the first thing I was doing is popping pills and smoking a blunt and starting my day.
05:07This scared Scooter Braun so badly that the talent manager once shared that he was afraid to go to sleep at this time,
05:13worried that something would happen to Bieber overnight.
05:16While Bieber has publicly claimed that those years are behind him,
05:19citing his reinvigorated Christian faith and marriage to Hailey Baldwin,
05:22some fans and spectators have grown increasingly concerned about him in the 2020s.
05:26Taking the necessary precautions, necessary to not get any worse, I guess.
05:32Listen to Hailey when she says she feels that I'm run down,
05:36and it's good to have her as, you know, checks and balances.
05:39She can let me know when I'm like, alright, you're looking depleted right now.
05:44Releasing the album's Changes and Justice in 2020 and 21, respectively,
05:48the accompanying Justice World Tour takes significant delays as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
05:54By the time the tour finally got off the ground in 2022, further unforeseen issues became apparent.
06:05Originally scheduled to end in March of 2023,
06:08the Justice World Tour ended abruptly with its Rio de Janeiro show in September of 2022,
06:14said Bieber on social media.
06:15After getting off stage, the exhaustion overtook me,
06:18and I realized that I need to make my health a priority right now.
06:21So, I'm going to take a break from touring for the time being.
06:24I'm going to be okay, but I need time to rest and get better.
06:27Justin Bieber announcing that he is canceling the rest of his world tour over health issues.
06:33In a message to his fans, Bieber says his reasons for canceling are part physical and part mental.
06:39Now, you may recall, the singer had a recent health scare after developing a rare neurological disorder
06:45which temporarily paralyzed the right side of his face.
06:49It wasn't Bell's palsy, but something similar.
06:51This was partially attributed to a bout of COVID,
06:53but most prominently to Ramsey-Huntz syndrome type 2,
06:57a viral infection of the facial nerve.
06:59As you can see, this eye is not blinking.
07:03I can't smile on this side of my face.
07:06This nostril will not move.
07:10So, there's full paralysis in this side of my face.
07:14So, for those who are frustrated by my cancellations of the next shows,
07:20I'm just physically, obviously, not capable of doing them.
07:24At the end of 2022, Bieber made the unprecedented move of selling his music catalog
07:29for a reported $200 million, owing to rumored financial woes
07:34and accusations of being on the verge of financial collapse, according to TMZ.
07:38With the exception of a few live performances here and there,
07:41Bieber took a well-deserved break from the spotlight in the following years.
07:44Justin Bieber just sold his music catalog for an estimated measly $200 million.
07:51He made the deal with an investment company based in the UK.
07:55The catalog includes more than 290 Bieber songs.
07:59The sale is reportedly the biggest involving an artist from Bieber's generation.
08:03With rumors of a musical comeback swirling through the first half of 2025,
08:08fans took notice of posts Bieber made to Instagram.
08:10In a series of videos posted in May, for example,
08:13Bieber rambled at length about Alaska living, God and Jesus, and loyalty.
08:18G-O-D, our boy Jesus, he's got a plan, and he works all things together for Gucci.
08:28Gucci is what we mean when we mean good.
08:33I want to be like a rat, stealing your cheese.
08:39These appeared in the wake of growing concern about the state of his mental health.
08:43In April 2025, Hollywood Reporter quoted an anonymous former team member as saying,
08:47he's lost.
08:49There's no one protecting him, because there's no one there willing to say no to him.
08:53You say no, you get blown out.
08:54Justin Bieber was broke in 2022 when he sold that music catalog.
08:59Broke.
09:00And we get into his church.
09:04But as for that Coachella incident, you're right.
09:07I mean, there is video of him looking, there it is, really out of it.
09:11Although reps quickly slammed the story as pure speculation,
09:14fans couldn't help but point to his increasingly bizarre and vulnerable social media presence.
09:18On Instagram, Bieber often posted about feeling like a fraud and unworthy of his considerable success.
09:24Perhaps the most prominent elephant in the room was Bieber's past association
09:28with disgraced music mogul Sean Diddy Combs.
09:31You ain't been calling me and hanging out the way we used to hang out.
09:34Well, I mean, you try to get in contact with me, you know, through all my, you know,
09:38partners and whatnot.
09:40But you never really got my number, so.
09:44Right, okay.
09:44My number?
09:45Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:45I'm going to tell you my number.
09:46Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:47Yeah, yeah.
09:47The hip-hop legend's career was blown apart in late 2023,
09:51when his former partner, Cassie Ventura, accused him of grave abuse.
09:55Months later, Combs was charged with sex trafficking and racketeering,
09:59and subject to dozens of lawsuits alleging disturbing misconduct.
10:02With Combs' trial looming, those close to Bieber have worried
10:05that it could serve as yet another source of distress for him.
10:08Yeah, so, as soon as you turn 16, you know what I'm saying,
10:13I'm going to let you rock this every time.
10:15Ready?
10:15Yeah, this is going to be yours.
10:17So, every time you're coming out, it's a little dusty, but, you know,
10:21I'm going to put it in front shot.
10:24Man.
10:25Man, now.
10:26Minute.
10:27Woo.
10:28Okay.
10:29Okay.
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10:43Concern for Bieber grew dramatically after a 2009 YouTube video resurfaced,
10:49in which the young singer claims to have spent a crazy 48 hours with Combs.
10:54The mogul asserts that he can't reveal what happened in that time,
10:57but that it's definitely a 15-year-old's dream.
10:59Said in an ominous source to U.S. Weekly 2024,
11:03he has such a history with Diddy,
11:04and the allegations against him have been hard to process.
11:06They're having the times of their lives, like, like, like, you know,
11:10where we hanging out and what we doing.
11:12Um, we, we can't really disclose,
11:15but, um, it's definitely a 15-year-old's dream.
11:20Um, you know, I, I, I have been given custody of him.
11:24You know, he signed the usher.
11:26While Bieber and Combs' personal history remains unclear,
11:29what's unambiguous is that nearly two decades of intense media scrutiny
11:32hasn't exactly been to Justin's benefit.
11:35Music industry insiders and longtime fans
11:38are rooting for his career comeback,
11:40and most of all, for his internal peace.
11:49What do you think?
11:50How can Hollywood better protect its young stars?
11:53Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
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