We are all used to seeing Justin Bieber as the happy, go-lucky teen star that rose his way to fame and is now dating Selena Gomez. The truth is Justin Bieber’s past wasn’t the cakewalk many imagine. He’s lucky to even be here today.
Justin Bieber’s mom, Pattie Mallette, discussed her traumatic childhood of sexual abuse, drug problems and an attempted suicide in a recent interview.
“I was full of shame,” Pattie told interviewer Kathie Lee Gifford. “I’ve learned it’s normal for anybody who’s been through sexual abuse to carry that shame and blame and feel like there’s something wrong with you. I definitely carried that.
At the age of 15 Pattie had already started drinking and taking drugs. Two years later, she attempted suicide by throwing herself in front of a moving truck.
“It was a culmination built up over the years of the abuse and the pain,” she explained. “At the time I was messed up with drugs and alcohol and in a depression.”
After hooking up with Jeremy Bieber at 17, she began to realize that she was pregnant. Many of those close to her advised her to get an abortion although she refused.
“I just knew I couldn’t. I just knew I had to keep him. I didn’t know how I was going to do it. But I just knew that I couldn’t abort. I had to do my best, and I was determined to do whatever it took,” she said.
When Justin was born Patti was only 18. She can still recall the first time she heard him cry.
“I know this sounds crazy, but it sounded like he was singing!” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it is so precious and amazing. I just want to squeeze him.”
Everything since then is history.
That little crying baby would go on to become one of the largest artists of the 21st century, selling over 15 million albums and earning a net worth of $108 million.
