Justin Bieber turns 30: from childhood of poverty to teenage heartthrob, his $300 million fortune an
Justin Bieber has been famous for almost 20 years
When Justin Bieber first came onto the music scene aged 13, the world was never the same again. He became an absolute sensation after the release of the song "Baby" in 2010, ushering in a new era of pop and gaining an army of fans called the 'beliebers'.
Now, the "King of Teen Pop" - and the "Prince of Pop" more generally - is turning 30 years old, and it's been a tumultuous 17 years since he originally entered the public eye.
Here are the highs and lows of Justin Bieber's incredible career.
Humble beginnings
Justin Bieber was born to Pattie Mallette and Jeremy Bieber in Ontario, Canada. His mom and dad were both 18 years old when they welcomed him and split up not long after, with Jeremy reportedly having an irregular presence in his son's life.
Pattie took on a series of low-paying office jobs to raise Justin as a single mother in low-income housing. At the age of 21, Justin would go onto reflect on living below the poverty line.
"I remember being poor and being teased by other kids," he said. "I remember sitting in restaurants with my mother and she'd make me order water instead of soda. I remember so badly wanting to order a soda. And I also remember that when I got my first big pay cheque I was so glad to be able to use that money to take care of my mother."
Despite this, her son displayed musical talent from an early age. He learned to play the piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet, singing in local talent competitions.
His mom would share videos of him performing R&B classics on YouTube for friends and family to see. Little did Justin know that these videos would lead to his eventual superstardom.
Accidental discovery and bidding war
In 2008, Scooter Braun accidentally came across one of Justin's YouTube videos and was immediately impressed. So much so that he tracked down and contacted his mom asking her to come to Atlanta with her son to record demos and meet Usher.
Patty was initially reluctant to accept Scooter's idea due to religious differences, but church elders convinced her to let her son go to Atlanta.
It was upon being introduced to Usher that interest in the then-14-year-old rose. Suddenly Justin Timberlake was interested in signing the tween, losing the bidding war to Usher in part because people speculated that two associated Justins might confuse the market.
Justin signed to Raymond Braun Media Group - a joint venture between Usher and Scooter, with the latter staying on as his manager.
Meteoric rise
Justin's first two singles, "One Time" and "One Less Lonely Girl", did well for a relatively unknown artist, charting in the Canadian and US Billboard Top 100 charts. But it wasn't until the release of "Baby" that the teen star truly saw success.
Justin Bieber - Baby ft. Ludacris"Baby" was an international hit. It charted at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100. The song is certified 12x platinum, and the music video has been watched 3.1 billion times, making it one of the most watched YouTube videos ever.
But the track proved divisive early on. While setting the teenager out as a heartthrob early on to his young audience, the earworm track had a love or hate effect - and as of 2021 it was the fourth most disliked YouTube video ever.
Selena Gomez
That same year as his hit single "Baby" took the world by storm, Justin met a young Selena Gomez and they started dating, going public in 2011.
Selena revealed their relationship in an interview with Seventeen magazine: "I don't like hiding. I do like to keep certain things to myself, but at the end of the day, I'm 18, and I'm going to fall in love," she said. "I'm going to hang out with people, and I'm going to explore myself, and I'm OK with that."
The couple had a highly publicized on-off relationship. Following their second breakup in 2014, Justin spoke to Complex in 2015 about what it was like navigating the highs and lows of their relationship.
"When stuff would happen, I would lose my freakin' mind, and she would lose her mind, and we would fight so hard because we were so invested in each other," he told the magazine. "Love is a choice. Love is not a feeling."
The couple would officially break up for the final time in 2018.
Heartthrob status
Riding off the high of My World and My World 2.0, Justin's follow-up album Believe may have been a purposeful move away from so-called 'teen pop', but it cemented him as an absolute heartthrob.
Songs like "Boyfriend" and "As Long As You Love Me" sounded a lot more grown up than his previous work while still being approved by his notably young, female audience. The singer went on a world tour to support this album.
Controversy
Not long after the colossal success of Believe, Justin ran into trouble. Perhaps it was almost inevitable that such a public-facing figure with a huge, intense fan base - and a number of vocal critics online - would struggle with the transition into adulthood.
"No one's ever grown up like Justin Bieber," Scooter Braun told Rolling Stone in 2012, looking to explain the complicated nature of becoming a man while being in the public eye. "Ever, in the history of humanity."
A visit to the Anne Frank House in 2013 saw him write in the guestbook: "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber." Naturally, he received backlash for this, being called insensitive.
The Anne Frank House responded to the criticism, explaining that Justin was "19. It's a crazy life he's living, he didn't mean bad."
Similarly, his appearance on Saturday Night Live was panned by critics - and years later even cast veterans would comment on just how bleak his appearance on the show had been.
When asked who was the worst guest on SNL, Bill Hader namechecked the star, adding: "He just was in a bad place. Maybe he's in a better place. But then, it was rough."
He added: "I think he just seemed exhausted, or he was at the end of a rope. He was just so huge."
By 2014, news stories came out that Justin had been caught egging a neighbor's house, driving under the influence, and assaulting someone - all on separate occasions.
That same year a video emerged of Justin, at the age of 15, using racist slurs against Black people. The day the video was released, he apologized, saying: "Facing my mistakes from years ago has been one of the hardest things I've ever dealt with."
Comeback
By 2015, it seemed that Justin Bieber's stardom was returning after 2014's year of immense controversy. The singer leaned into dance music with the release of "Where Are Ü Now" in collaboration with Jack Ü (a pseudonym for Diplo and Skrillex collaborating).
The second single, "Sorry", had already created a hysteria for the upcoming album Purpose, released in November.
Purpose was nominated for four Grammys, receiving enormous praise from critics and fans alike.
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Marriage to Hailey Bieber
Since 2018, Justin has been married to Hailey Bieber, née Baldwin, who he had dated in 2015. The couple had a whirlwind reunion in 2018 leading to their eventual marriage, and they've been happily committed ever since.
The couple had first met in 2009, and Hailey had always been a Belieber. But the two became good friends through their church, Hillsong, in 2014.
Justin and Hailey spoke out about their relationship in docu-series Seasons
The singer said getting to "share my life with Hailey just makes it so much more rewarding."
Hailey called Justin "the first person I ever had real feelings for."
"When things kind of went south for a little bit and we went our separate ways, I just knew that no matter what the outcome was going to be, he was going to be somebody that I loved for the rest of my life", she said. "No matter what, he was always going to hold a special place in my heart."
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Continued success
Justin has released two albums since 2020, and continues to have success as a musician. He last toured in 2022 for the release of his album, Justice, but the tour was cut short due to being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome.
When he featured on a remix of Reggaeton track "Despacito" by Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi, the track rocketed through the charts in numerous countries and became one of the most-watched YouTube videos of all time.
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