Justin Bieber knows he was reckless in the past when it comes to relationships.
The 25-year-old singer got candid about his mistakes and how wife Hailey Bieber has changed him for the better in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music.
When talking about his new album, Changes, and a song that’s about true love, Zane asked Justin about knowing he needed time to work on himself before he took things further with Hailey. Justin dated Selena Gomez on-and-off for years before getting married to Hailey, and touched on how he knew he was “crazy” and “went wild” during his previous relationship.
“I’d let her know prior to the tour when we were hanging a lot. I said, ‘Listen, I’m still really hurt and still trying to figure out my way, and I’m not ready to make a commitment to you in a way that… I just don’t want to say something and do the opposite,'” he recalled telling Hailey. “Because I was at the point where I’d done that in the past. And I just was honest with her, I was like, ‘I’m not in a place to be faithful,’ and all this sort of stuff, that I wanted to be, but I just wasn’t there yet.”
Justin elaborated, saying, “I think I still was dealing with a lot of unforgiveness and all that sort of stuff. To be honest, I don’t think I even knew what I was really struggling with at the time. I don’t think I knew I was dealing with unforgiveness.”
Justin also talked about how he and Hailey stopped talking for a time, which upset him, but also helped him change. “Before that, in my previous relationship, I went off and just went crazy and went wild, just was being reckless,” he said. “This time I took the time to really build myself and focus on me, and try to make the right decisions and all that sort of stuff. And yeah, I got better.”
This was part of what he hinted at when he said he was finally ready to make the changes necessary in himself and finally felt ready to be a husband and the type of man that Hailey deserved – as in a faithful one.
Bieber also credits his faith for him getting his life together, hinting he was going down a very negative path. “It was bad,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d be alive. It was dark, really dark.”
Bieber and Gomez’s relationship was so tumultuous it inspired songs on Selena’s December 2019 album, Rare. Gomez has said that “Lose You to Love Me,” which came out as a single in October 2019, was a way of saying goodbye to her relationship with Bieber. She has also made reference to emotional abuse from Bieber.
Meanwhile, Bieber celebrated the release of his new studio album, Changes on Friday at the official Spotify album “House of Changes” launch party in Los Angeles.
The experience transformed one of LA’s most iconic skate parks into “a maze of immersive zones that told the story of Changes.” During the event, fans received customized Justin x Spotify tees using decals designed by visual artist, Gianpiero D’Alessandro, in each zone – from the “Off the Rails” portal entry to the “Yummy” banquet, and a teddy pi with human-sized teddy bears – an ode to Theodore, the mascot of Justin’s Drew House clothing line. There was also a Changes photo booth where fans transformed themselves into the album cover star.
Attendees included actors Arielle Vandenberg, Anne Winters, Ally Maki, Jordan Doww, influencer Matt Cutshall and artist Teala Dunn. There was also a show from LA’s top pro-skaters, set to a tracklist by DJ Tay James. Justin shocked fans with a surprise visit, and an impromptu skate session of his own.
In other news, for Valentine’s Day, Justin’s wife Hailey surprised the singer with a pink bedazzled Dreamsicle, designed by digital artist Dan Life. The sculpture, worth $10,000, is made of more than 12,000 hand-set crystals and made to look like a dripping popsicle. It’s one of only 10 ever created.