Justin Bieber has opened up about the low point of his past drug use, which the pop star says culminated in his security guards’ slipping into his room at night to check whether he was still alive.
The singer, 27, spoke about his past issues in the May issue of GQ, telling the magazine of feeling empty despite his overwhelming success.
“There was a sense of still yearning for more. It was like I had all this success and it was still like: ‘I’m still sad, and I’m still in pain. And I still have these unresolved issues,'” Bieber said.
“And I thought all the success was going to make everything good. And so for me, the drugs were a numbing agent to just continue to get through.”
Bieber said he “lost control” of his vision for his career, which was clouded by the opinions of people surrounding him in the industry. The singer said some people would identify the insecurities of others and “prey” on them for their gain.
“And then you’re this young angry person who had these big dreams, and then the world just jades you and makes you into this person that you don’t want to be,” Bieber said. “And then you wake up one day and your relationships are f—ed up and you’re unhappy and you have all this success in the world, but you’re just like: ‘Well, what is this worth if I’m still feeling empty inside?'”
Bieber previously spoke about his drug habits in 2020, saying he became addicted to taking pills and smoking weed at the age of 13.
“People don’t know how serious it got. It was legit crazy scary,” Bieber said in his YouTube series. “I was waking up in the morning and the first thing I was doing is popping pills and smoking a blunt and starting my day.”
In his interview with GQ, Bieber said his faith and his wife, Hailey Bieber, helped him to get through those dark moments.
“I came to a place where I just was like: ‘God, if you’re real, I need you to help me, because I can’t do this on my own. Like, I’m struggling so hard. Every decision I make is out of my own selfish ego,'” Bieber said.
Justin and Hailey married in 2018, and while the singer said the first year of their marriage was “really tough,” Bieber credits his wife with helping him to have something “to look forward to” in his life.
Bieber said they were “creating these moments for us as a couple, as a family, that we’re building these memories.”
“And it’s beautiful that we have that to look forward to,” he said. “Before, I didn’t have that to look forward to in my life. My home life was unstable. I didn’t have a significant other. I didn’t have someone to love. I didn’t have someone to pour into.”