Hailey Bieber is addressing long-running rumors that she stole Justin Bieberfrom Selena Gomez.
The model, who married the pop star in 2018, went there Wednesday on the CallHer Daddy __ podcast , answering questions about the timeline of theirrelationship and addressing the “bullying” she has faced from Jelena fans. Sherevealed that she has spoken with Gomez and says, “There’s no drama” betweenthem.
“I’ve literally never talked about this ever,” Hailey said while being grilledabout her relationship timeline with Justin and whether it overlapped with himdating Gomez. (Quick recap: Justin and Selena started dating in 2010, split in2012, got back together in 2013, split in 2014, reunited in late 2017 andsplit permanently in early 2018. Justin and Hailey started dating in 2014,split in 2016 and reconciled in June 2018, getting engaged and then married ina span of months. )
“They were not in a relationship” when she reconciled with Justin in June2018, Hailey, 25, said emphatically. “As a woman, I would never want to getinto a relationship with someone — and be engaged to them and be gettingmarried to them — and [be] thinking the back of my mind: I wonder if that[door] was really closed. … I know for a fact that the reason we were able toget back together was because it was very much completely closed.”
So there was no overlap at any point? “No,” Hailey told host Alex Cooper. “Notone time. Let’s just put it this way: When [we] started hooking up … he wasnot ever in a relationship. At any point. I would never. It’s not my characterto mess with someone’s relationship. … I was raised better than that. … I cansay period point-blank: I was never with him when he was in a relationshipwith anybody. That’s the end of it.”
Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez started dating in 2010 and fandom built aroundthem. They were young, existing under a microscope and their relationship wason and off. It ended for good in early 2018 and he reconciled with ex HaileyBaldwin Bieber soon after. Justin and Hailey were married in September 2018.(Photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok)
Hailey spoke more about Justin and Gomez’s brief reunion, that ended a fewmonths before Justin proposed to Hailey. She said it was closure for the exes,who had a headline-making, on-and-off relationship over a span of eight years.
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“It was the right thing for them to close that door,” she said of Justin andSelena’s final parting. “It closed a chapter. I think it was the best thingthat could have happened for him to move on.”
Hailey talked about being the target of haters since Justin and Gomez splitfor good.
“A lot of the hate, and the perpetuation, comes from [the misperception], ‘Oh,you stole him,'” she said. “It comes from the fact that they wished he hadended up with someone else and that’s fine. You can wish that all you want butthat’s just not the case.”
She added, “The only people that really know the truth of the situation andwhat the timeline really was and how it happened and how it went down are meand him. Perception is a really tricky thing because, when you’re watchingsomething from the outside, you can see it one way. When it may not really bethe reality of what happened behind closed doors.”
Hailey went on to reveal that she has spoken to Gomez since she married Justinin September 2018. She said, “It’s all respect. It’s all love” between them.”There’s no drama.”
“That’s also why I feel like if everybody on our side knows what happened andwe’re good and we could walk away from it with clarity and respect, thenthat’s fine,” she said. She said the conversation “brought me a lot of peace.I’m like, ‘Hey, we know what happened.’ You’re never going to be able tocorrect every narrative.”
Hailey spoke about the trolling she’s received from haters all these years.They’ve interrupted her Instagram Lives flooding her with hateful comments,and stood outside the Met Gala in 2021 to scream “Selena” when she and Justinwalked the red carpet.
“Yes, I could hear everyone screaming,” she recalled. “I think there’s acertain part of you that has a numbness. … It was disrespectful to me, to myrelationship. It just was. Period. The end. But I think I’ve endured so muchdisrespect — and I still do to this day — that there was like a part of methat was just like another day, another negative slay.”
Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber attend 2021 Costume Institute Benefit – InAmerica: A Lexicon of Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on September13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo: Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via GettyImages)
Nevertheless, she added, “They’ve never ruined anything for me,” she said ofhaters. “They’re not ruining my life. They’re not ruining my happiness — andthat I think Is really the win of the whole thing. You’re actually not takinganything away from me. So that’s what I just keep stepping forward with …. Youcannot take away my happiness, my relationship, my business, my career. Youcan be mad about it but it doesn’t change anything.”
She said she wonders, “If we have moved on, why can’t you? That’s kind of justthe whole thought process. It’s just hurtful. It’s bullying.”
Hailey was asked if she or Justin ever reached out to Selena ab outintervening with her fans and calling for them to stop harassing Hailey. Theanswer was no.
“What I will say is that she has been in this industry much longer than I haveand maybe there’s something that she knows — like it wouldn’t fix anything,”Hailey replied.
Cooper suggested that Gomez simply liking one of Hailey’s social posts couldput an end to a lot of the drama.
“I think that everyone is just trying to create separation,” Hailey replied,”even though there’s clearly not always separation. I have no expectation” ofGomez doing that. “I would never expect someone to do that for me. She doesn’towe me anything. Neither of us owe anybody anything except respect. I respecther a lot. … If that was something that she felt was necessary, then thatwould be amazing.”