Pop megastar Justin Bieber took to Instagram this week to apologize for his recent bad behavior and to remind fans that no matter how low they get, “Jesus loves you.”
In a lengthy letter to his 118 million followers, the Canadian sensation apologized for abusing drugs, souring relationships, and making any number of “bad decisions” in his younger days.
The “I Don’t Care” singer told fans that sometimes “It’s hard to get out of bed in the morning with the right attitude when you are overwhelmed with your life, your past, job, responsibilities, emotions, your family, financed, your relationships.”
Bieber also wrote that his life had become day after day of “dread.”
“When it feels like there’s trouble after trouble after trouble,” Bieber wrote. “You start foreseeing the day through lenses of ‘dread’ and anticipate another bad day.”
“Sometimes it can even get to the point where you don’t even want to lie anymore,” the Canadian singer lamented.
Bieber went on to note that he felt an immense amount of pressure but was too young to be ready for it.
“There is an insane pressure and responsibility pit on a child whose brain, emotions, frontal lobes (decision making) are developed yet,” Bieber admitted. “No rationality, defiant, rebellious, things all of us have to go through. But when you add the pressure of stardom, it does something to you that is quite inexplicable.”
The hitmaker said that at 18, he had “no skills in the real world,” but also had millions in the bank and “access to whatever he wanted.” From there, he slid into chaos. “By 20 I made every bad decision you could have thought of and went from one of the most loved and adored people in the world to the most ridiculed, judged and hated person in the world,” Bieber admitted in the open letter.
Bieber then said that he went way off track.
“I started doing pretty heavy drugs at 19 and abused all of my relationships. I became resentful, disrespectful to woman, and angry,” he wrote. “I became distant to everyone who loved me, and I was hiding behind a shell of a person that I had become.”
“It’s taken me years to bounce back from all these terrible decisions, fix broken relationships, and change relationship habits,” he exclaimed.
Bieber said that for a while, he felt like he could “never turn it around.” But with his marriage, he has found a new lease on life. Marriage is an “amazing new responsibility,” Bieber wrote. “You learn patience, trust, commitment, kindness, humility, and all of the things it looks like to be a good man.”
The Sorry singer concluded his letter telling fans that Jesus loves them and pleading with them to choose “God’s love.”
“All this is to say even when the odds are against you, keep fighting. Jesus loves you. Be kind today. Be bold today, and love people today. Not by your standards but by God’s perfect, unfailing love.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.