Justin Bieber says he had an “emotional breakdown” after realizing that marriage would not solve all of his personal issues.
“It’s a journey. I remember when I first got married, I hit a little bit of an emotional breakdown because I thought marriage was going to fix all my problems and it didn’t,” Justin told host Ebro Darden on Apple Music’s “The Ebro Show”.
He continued, “It just kind of was a reflection of like, man, you’re a bit of a hypocrite.”
After the couple exchanged vows in a New York City courthouse in September 2018, Justin said he found himself wanting Hailey to do things that he wasn’t doing himself.
“It’s hard sometimes to look in the mirror and really have to realize, man, maybe you’re not the person that you necessarily thought that you were,” he said, continuing, “And that’s just a result of trauma and life circumstances.”
The Canadian pop star has previously discussed the toll that childhood stardom has taken on his life. He said becoming famous at such a young age led him to use drugs, struggle with mental illness, and mistreat past partners.
During his conversation with Darden, Justin credited his “faith journey” and his “relationship with Jesus” with helping him to “not be so hard on myself.”
Now almost four years into their marriage, both Justin and Hailey have publicly reflected on the challenges they faced as newlyweds.
The Canadian popstar told GQ in April 2021 that he was “on eggshells” during his first year as a husband to Hailey.
“The first year of marriage was really tough. There was just lack of trust,” Justin said.
On top of adjusting to married life, the couple was navigating Justin’s Lyme disease diagnosis, chronic mono, and mental-health challenges.
During a November 2021 episode of the “In Good Faith” podcast, Hailey recalled reaching a breaking point early in the marriage and made a tearful phone call to her mother, Kennya Baldwin.
“I was like, ‘I just can’t do it. There’s no way that I’m going to be able to do this if it’s going to be like this forever,'” Hailey said.
