Hailey Baldwin recently joked on the Tonight Show about how meeting future husband Justin Bieber with her dad when she was 13-years-old sounded like they had an arranged marriage. It turns out, Justin is kind of seeing it same way upon recalling that fateful day when he was just 15. The 26-year-old appears on Ellen DeGeneres‘ daytime talk show on March 6 where he’s interviewed by pal and guest host Demi Lovato, 27. Which is a strange coincidence, as Demi used to be besties with Justin’s ex Selena Gomez, 27. She asked him about how he met Hailey, and the Biebs recalled practically the same story his wife told to Jimmy Fallon.
“We met in the early mornings of a Today show taping. We — I’m pretty sure she didn’t want to be there. Her dad dragged her out of bed in the morning. And basically it was like — you know, because she was raised Christian and I think she….they found out that like, I…I think it was an arranged marriage, I’m pretty sure. Looking back now it was definitely an arranged marriage,” he said as the audience laughed. “They set this whole thing up.”
“But since she was raised Christian, she’s like, ‘Oh I want to introduce you to Justin and his mom. They have similar values and believe the same thing. We think you guys would be good friends.’ It was definitely an arranged marriage now that I’m thinking about it,” Justin continued. Though he meant to refer to Hailey’s dad, devoutly Christian actor Stephen Baldwin, 53, who was the one who took Hailey to the Today Show to introduce her to then-rising star and deeply Christian Justin.
When Hailey appeared on the Tonight Show on Feb. 28, Jimmy asked her about how they met, noting that it was in 2009 and through her dad. “I know, it sounds like this weird arranged marriage situation,” the 23-year-old model joked. “We met because my dad, he brought me to the Today show when Justin performed there. He was no more than 15 I think.” Jimmy asked Hailey if she was a Belieber, as his song “Baby” was helping propel him to stardom. But his career hadn’t reached that level yet, as Today was one of Justin’s first U.S. appearances.
“To be honest, this is the truth. He was so new that I didn’t really know a lot about him yet,” she recalled. “It was really kinda before anything. I met him and his mom and my dad kind of just connected as friends and we invited them over to our house the next day. So him and his mom just came over for family dinner with me and my family and we went bowling.” The rest is history, as in Sept. 2018, Justin and Hailey really did end up getting married!