Welcome back to Good in the ‘Wood Wednesdays, where we share good news happening in Hollywood and beyond.
For this week’s #HollyGOOD news: Justin Bieber recently revisited the time he was arrested for a DUI, encouraging fans to learn from their past and not let “shame ruin your today.”
For all you Beliebers out there, I’m sure you can attest to the changes we’ve seen in Justin Bieber throughout the years, and he acknowledges them through the songs featured on his 2020 album called Changes.
Being a celebrity for Justin since the start of his career at age 13 has been both a blessing and a struggle. Growing up in the spotlight means all of your mistakes are seen by the world.
Justin has been reminiscing about his past and current life both in his music and on social media.
His 2015 album, Purpose, featured a song called I’ll Show You, that says:
“My life is a movie
And everyone’s watchin’
So let’s get to the good part
And past all the nonsense
Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing
When the pressure’s coming down like lightning
It’s like they want me to be perfect
When they don’t even know that I’m hurtin’
‘Cause life’s not easy, I’m not made out of steel
Don’t forget that I’m human, don’t forget that I’m real”
Purpose showed fans a pivotal moment in his career that allowed the public to see him for what he truly is––a human––just like the rest of us. Go figure!
His latest single called Lonely featuring Benny Blanco talks about how growing up famous can be lonely:
“Everybody knows my past now
Like my house was always made of glass
And maybe that’s the price you pay
For the money and fame at an early age
And everybody saw me sick
And it felt like no one gave a shit
They criticized the things I did as an idiot kid”
The last line above, “they criticized the things I did as an idiot kid”, hits hard because as kids, we all make mistakes, but for Justin, his were all publicized. You can check out the full lyrics of Lonely on Genius.
Justin shared a teaser of the Lonely music video on his Instagram, saying “it was hard to listen to considering how tough it was to get through some of these chapters.”
Justin was ’emotional’ watching Jacob Tremblay portray him in the Lonely music video.
We owe a lot of Justin Bieber’s changes to his recent encounter with faith and to his wife, celeb model Hailey Baldwin Bieber. Justin has publicly said he is “a Jesus guy” and not “a religious man.”
Justin has been linked with many churches and pastors including Judah Smith from Churchome. Smith married Justin and Hailey in their 2019 wedding ceremony in South Carolina after their September 2018 legal marriage. Justin has also been linked with Rich Wilkerson Jr. from Vous Church, who married Kim and Kanye, and Carl Lentz from Hillsong NYC.
According to Elle, Justin and Hailey we’re spotted attending Vous Conference in Miami in June 2019, the same conference they attended in 2018 after their initial breakup. After the 2018 conference, they rekindled their relationship and got engaged within a month.
Justin continues to use his platform to share his faith with others:
Since the beginning of quarantine, Justin leaned on his faith, hosting regular IG lives where he caught up with fans and even prayed over them. Justin said “I was going to say a quick prayer, and if you guys agree with me, cool. If you don’t, it’s also cool, you don’t have to believe anything I believe, we have far more in common than we don’t.”
Justin Bieber wields the visibility of his platform to post encouraging words to his followers:
His more recent post was the photo when he was arrested. In his caption, Justin reflects on that time in his life and says:
“7 years ago today I was arrested, not my finest hour. Not proud of where I was at in my life. I was hurting, unhappy, confused, angry, mislead, misunderstood and angry at god.. I also wore too much leather for someone in Miami. All this to say God has brought me a long way. From then til now I do realize something.. God was as close to me then as he is right now. My encouragement to you is to ‘let your past be a reminder of how far god has brought you. Don’t allow shame to ruin your ‘today’ let the forgiveness of Jesus take over and watch your life blossom into all that God has designed you to be. LOVE YOU GUYS WITH MY WHOLE HEART”
Justin Bieber may not be just like us, but his vulnerability and faith is inspiring. Don’t worry Justin, we’re still Beliebers!
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