Justin Bieber, Canadian popstar, recently shared a message to his 118+ million Instagram followers that talked about how his life went off the rails due to his early fame, and how he’s now a changed man.
The message is an attempt to motivate those who view the post. Unlike most attempts at Instagram motivation, however, this one’s actually going to be read by many people.
After starting his post by describing a hypothetical situation that many normal/non-famous people probably face at some point in their lives he said that, despite his life kicking ass to casual observers watching from the outside, he had some real struggles with getting so famous at such a young age.
“I have a lot of money, clothes[,] cars, accolades, achievements, awards, and I was still unfulfilled,” he wrote. “Have you noticed the statistics of child stars and the outcomes of their life? There is an insane amount of pressure and responsibility put on a child[.]”
He then went on to talk about how his rise to stardom led to a rapid transition from a life of being beloved, to being the opposite of being beloved, to also doing hard drugs.
“I went from a 13 year old boy from a small town to being praised left and right by the world with millions saying how much they loved me and how great I was (…) everyone did everything for me so I never learned the fundamentals of responsibility,” he continued. “(…) 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!”
He continued by talking about using drugs and being “disrespectful to women.”
“I started doing pretty heavy drugs at 19 and abused all of my relationships,” he said. “I became resentful, disrespectful to women, and angry. I became distant to everyone who loved me, and I was hiding behind a shell of a person I had become. I felt like I could never turn it around. It’s taken me years to bounce back from all of these terrible decisions, fix broken relationships and change relationship habits.”
He goes on to highlight how his marriage is the best thing he’s got and the importance of pushing through even when the odds are stacked against you.
