Hailey Bieber: ‘it reached a point where the bullies got way too crazy for me’
A few hours before I interview Hailey Bieber, she is photographed at a hair salon in Beverly Hills, ‘looking leggy in her biker shorts beneath an oversized plaid blazer, which she paired with a black mask’, according to one tabloid, in a forensic obsession with her movements and appearance that seems to be shared by media outlets all over the world.
The accompanying pictures showed Bieber’s luxuriant new wavy ombre locks, which apparently took four hours to complete. The 24-year-old IMG model’s hair game is strong. So I’m surprised when she compliments my own lank barnet. ‘You have really dope hair,’ she trills, zooming me from LA.
This is a blatant untruth, but I thank her anyway. Like a pervert, I then ask her what she’s wearing, because that’s what you do when you interview a female celebrity. ‘I’m wearing a little cropped sweater and pants,’ she says. ‘I’m very comfortable.’
‘Comfortable’ isn’t what Hailey Bieber has been feeling lately. She’s been having problems with trolls. This is what happens when you marry a pop star beloved by millions of fans: they get arsey because they perceive you’ve taken him away from them. That Justin Bieber, a global pop phenomenon with 156m Instagram followers and a net worth of £210m, was ever likely to marry Mingbot from Milwaukee is irrelevant. They will still vent their jealousy and resentment all over social media. However much power you have in RL — and Bieber, with her modelling career, beauty endorsements, social media following, famous husband, famous family (her father is the actor Stephen Baldwin; Alec Baldwin is her uncle) and famous friends (the Jenner sisters, the Hadids) has plenty — we are all powerless in the face of trolls.
‘I think it’s a matter of not feeding into them,’ says Bieber. ‘A lot of what social media is, is people projecting their own insecurities on to you. And people just lie. They make up all these crazy, weird lies that can be really disturbing for your own mental health.’
That the subject is playing on her mind can be forgiven: before our conversation, a Selena Gomez fan posted a video inciting people to sabotage her Instagram Live with questions about Gomez (‘we need to f***ing bombard that shit… let’s all go after her’), who dated Justin Bieber on and off for seven years. It prompted him to release a statement on Instagram. ‘I just wanted to share this so people get an idea of what we face on a day to day,’ he wrote.
So bad has the bullying become that Bieber has sought professional support. ‘I’ve had to work a lot of this through with a therapist, because it had got to a point where they’d [the bullies] gotten way too crazy for me, and I was really anxious all the time. The thing that bothers me the most is that a lot of people online really want me to be a not nice person. They expect me to be mean and they call me a bitch.
‘You’ve never even met me in person, you don’t know me. I’m open about the fact that I’m still growing as a person. I wish people were more open to the idea of letting people learn, grow, make mistakes and move on. But we live in this cancel culture where people consistently say, “You did this, so you’re cancelled.” It’s a very, very toxic mentality.’
During the pandemic, while others learned to bake bread, she learned to ‘protect my energy a bit better’ and says 2020 was ‘a big growth year for me’. Early lockdown was spent in LA, where she enjoyed reconnecting with her husband and their families. ‘I feel blessed and lucky to have found some moments of joy and happiness; to have more gratitude for the things in life that I took for granted before.’
She and Justin celebrated their two-year wedding anniversary last year: as Christians, I ask what their faith means to them. ‘It’s everything for our relationship and for the way we live our lives. I think it’s really important to be connected to something bigger than ourselves.’ I suggest that those living a more godless life are perhaps more tempted to look for false gods in the wrong places. ‘A lot of people do that to celebrities,’ Bieber agrees. ‘They put these weird, false, high expectations on people who are in the public eye. So I find ways to protect myself from it.’
Such as? ‘I’ve had to let go of the idea that I owe anybody. I’ve gotten to the point where I just can’t set all the records straight, because there’s so much out there that’s not true. There’s something new every single day, so I’ve just learned to ignore it. You have to build up a wall between you and this false reality that is social media, and live with what’s in front of you, which is work and your friends and your family.’
A partner with bareMinerals, she looks after her skin with the same mindfulness as she does her soul. ‘I’m obsessed with gua sha [the traditional Chinese skin-scraping therapy]. It’s amazing for anti-ageing. I will sit in front of the TV with a layer of bareMinerals Ageless Phyto-Retinol face and neck cream, and I’ll just gua sha.’
She and Justin have been vocal about their skin problems: she suffered from perioral dermatitis, while he struggled with acne. Does she have any tips for the modern affliction of maskne? ‘A layer of Skin-longevity Long Life Herb Serum underneath your mask is helpful.’
As for her plans for 2021, she’s not ready to reveal them yet. ‘There are a couple things I’d like to accomplish; some personal business things I’m excited about and looking forward to launching. I want to spend more time with the people I love, because that’s what makes me most happy, and I hope 2021 brings a lot of newness.’
Well, at least America will have a new president soon, I say. Bieber has been as vocal in her support of Joe Biden as her father, Stephen, has been in his support of Donald Trump. ‘Thank God!’ she exclaims of Biden’s victory. ‘I’m really hopeful for the new president. We’ll see how this new year starts off.’ Let’s hope it’s a good one, without any trolls.
Hailey Bieber is bareMinerals Clean Beauty Ambassador
