Life in the public eye hasn’t always been a dream come true for Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin) as she navigates a high-profile marriage and social media backlash.
After stepping onto the scene as the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, Hailey began modeling and going out with other members of young Hollywood. In 2015, the former ballet dancer’s star was rising when she was linked to Justin Bieber amid a break from his on-again, off-again relationship with Selena Gomez. The twosome dated for several months before pulling the plug in March 2016.
Justin would go on to be linked to Sofia Richie and reunite with Gomez again before settling down with Hailey in 2018. The twosome wed that September after just months of dating for the second time.
“I was married when I was 21, two months before I turned 22, which is insanely young. And sounds almost ridiculous when you say it out loud. Although I do think for somebody like me and somebody like Justin, [it’s different. We’ve seen a lot for our age. We have both lived enough life to know that’s what we wanted,” she told Elle in 2021, admitting their first year of marriage was “very difficult.”
Hailey explained: “In the beginning of our marriage, I just wanted to hide. I was like, ‘I don’t want people so in my business. I feel like everybody’s up my ass.’ I was like, ‘Can there be no anonymity? Can I have any of it back?’”
In addition to pressures of making their relationship work, the Rhode Beauty founder often found herself fighting back at social media users who couldn’t let go of Justin’s past with Gomez. When the Disney Channel alum dropped her breakup track “Lose You To Love Me” in 2019, Hailey was accused of throwing a dig at Gomez by sharing a screenshot of Summer Walker and Jhené Aiko’s song “I’ll Kill You” via Instagram Stories.
After she called the speculation “complete BS,” Gomez stepped in.
“I am so grateful for the response of the song. However, I will never stand for women tearing other women down,” the singer said via Instagram Live at the time. “So please be kind to everyone.”
Still, the social media drama continued as fans flooded many of Hailey’s posts with comments about Gomez.
“Leave me alone at this point,” Hailey declared via TikTok in April 2022. “I’m minding my business. I don’t do anything, I don’t say anything. Leave me alone, please. Enough time has gone by where it’s valid to leave me alone. I beg of you. Truly. That’s my only request. Be miserable somewhere else, please.”
Two months later, the YouTuber expanded on her online struggles.
“Something I found to be really hard and really taxing for my mental health is social media, and my relationship with social media. I am somebody who struggles with people-pleasing – really wanting everybody to like me and caring a lot about what people have to say and think,” she said in a video shared to her channel in June 2022. “I appreciate social media and I think it’s a really wonderful and beautiful tool to be able to connect with people. I am in a space where I am trying to have the healthiest relationship with social media that I possibly can.”
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Scroll through for a timeline of Hailey’s ups and downs in the public eye:
