Justin Bieber, 27, has made the surprising revelation that his first year of marriage to Hailey Baldwin wasn’t an easy one, saying that it “was really tough,” in an interview for his May 2021 GQ cover story. “Because there was a lot going back to the trauma” he had suffered from becoming a worldwide pop star at such a young age. “There was just a lack of trust. There was all these things that you don’t want to admit to the person that you’re with, because it’s scary. You don’t want to scare them off by saying, ‘I’m scared.,” he admits. The couple wed in a New York court house on Sept. 13, 2018, after getting back together just four months prior.
Justin got engaged to Hailey in July 2018, less then two months into their rekindled romance and after he had hit a low point mentally and emotionally. “There was a sense of still yearning for more,” he says. “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. And I thought all the success was going to make everything good. And so for me, drugs were a numbing agent to just continue to get through.” But his Sept. 2018 marriage to Hailey and his strong faith in God — which she also shares — helped lift him up to a better place. Justin admitted during his YouTube docuseries, Justin Bieber: Seasons that Hailey wouldn’t get involved with him until he “chose to get sober.”
The “Holy” singer explains how he feels so “comforted” by his two and a half year marriage to the 24-year-old model. “Hurt people hurt people — you know? And there’s a quote; I’m trying to remember it. I don’t know if it’s biblical, if it’s in the Bible. But I do remember this quote: The comforted become the comforters. I don’t know if you’ve heard that before. But I really do feel comforted. I have a wife who I adore, who I feel comforted by. I feel safe. I feel like my relationship with God is wonderful. And I have this outpouring of love that I want to be able to share with people, you know?”
Justin tells the publication that he was “compelled” to marry, recalling that “I just felt like that was my calling. Just to get married and have babies and do that whole thing.” Though he clarifies of the “babies” part, “Not this second, but we will eventually.”
The pop superstar is now more grounded than ever thanks to his happy marriage to Hailey. “We’re just 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. 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.”
Besides his union with Hailey, Justin literally thanks God for helping him turn his life around from the dark place it had been. “He is grace,” the Biebs says. “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.’ So I’m just like, ‘What is it that you want from me? You put all these desires in my heart for me to sing and perform and to make music — where are these coming from? Why is this in my heart? What’s the point? What is the point of everything? What is the point of me being on this planet?’”
Fortunately Justin is feeling more at peace than every before thanks to his solid marriage and his faith. He explains, “It’s just rewarding to be all that you were designed to be. And I believe that, at this point in my life, I’m right where I’m supposed to be, doing what I believe that God wants me to do. And there’s nothing more fulfilling.”