Justin Bieber turns a year older on 1 March. What makes this birthday extra special for the Biebs is that it’s his first one as a married man - he wed Hailey Baldwin in a secret ceremony in September 2018. Here’s looking back at the couple’s relationship.
2009: The First Meeting
Justin and Hailey’s meet cute goes back to 2009 when both were still gawky teens. Hailey’s dad Stephen Baldwin introduced the two backstage at The Today Show. The brief encounter was suitably cringeworthy, as most teenage interactions are.
2014: Hailey Is Spotted Hanging With Justin’s Pals Kylie & Kendall Jenner
Between 2011 and 2014, Hailey Baldwin appeared to ship Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, who were in an on again, off again relationship, and tweeted in support of the couple. However, in August 2014, Hailey was spotted in a picture with Justin’s close friends Kylie and Kendall Jenner and model Gigi Hadid. Gomez unfollowed the Jenners and deleted all photos with them from her Instagram account, which added fuel to the speculations of a budding relationship between Hailey and the Biebs.
However, the couple spent December 2014 denying all claims and asking fans to chill out.
2015: Matching Tattoos!
In July 2015, Justin and Hailey both got tattoos of the letter ‘G’ in honour of a friend’s daughter Georgia, who was born with Lissencephaly. Bieber’s is on his forearm and Hailey got hers behind her ear.
The two also escaped for a tropical vacation with Biebs’ family in the Caribbean island of Anguilla in December 2015.
2016: It’s Insta Official
Instagram or it didn’t happen, right? Justin posted a PDA-heavy post to his Instagram account in January 2016 and left fans to connect the dots. Pictures, 1,000 words and all that...
Plot twist.
Shortly after posting that suggestive picture, Justin and Hailey appeared to backtrack and tried to convince everyone that they were “just keeping things casual, you guys”. Hailey told E! “We are not an exclusive couple. He’s about to go on tour. Relationships at this age are already complicated, but I don’t really like to talk about it because it’s between me and him.”
2016 - 2018: Paradise Lost
In the most on brand move for a Gen Z kid, Hailey unfollowed Justin on Instagram in August 2016, thus heralding news of their break-up. For fans unfamiliar with the subtle mating rituals of Millennials/Gen Z-ers, the confirmation that Jailey were no longer an item came when Justin was soon spotted with Sofia Richie, daughter of singer Lionel Richie. Justin later resumed his rocky relationship with Selena Gomez, though the couple called it quits for good in March 2018.
2018: Justin Puts a Ring on It
After spending two years apart, Justin and Hailey reunited “as friends” in August 2018. Hailey told The Times UK, “Justin and I were friends for a long time. I met him when I was really young and he was one of my best friends. Everybody knows that at a certain point in time that turned into something else, but that just happens when you’re 18, 19. We went through a long period of time when we weren’t friends. We didn’t speak for quite some time and there was a lot of weirdness that went on. We’ve moved past that.”
In what appears to be a clear pattern, Hailey erased all evidence of rumoured boyfriend singer Shawn Mendes from her Instagram feed in June 2018.
Justin reportedly popped the question in early July 2018 in the Bahamas.
His dad approved.
2018: The Wedding
A couple of months after the proposal, Justin and Hailey had a low-key wedding in New York. The two were spotted obtaining their marriage license at a court house by paps. A source later confirmed the news that they had tied the knot to People magazine.
The couple appeared on the cover of Vogue in February 2019. In an interview with the magazine, Hailey admitted that marriage was “hard” but, “we’re committed to growing together and supporting each other in those changes. That’s how I look at it. At the end of the day, too, he’s my best friend. I never get sick of him.”
Oh yeah, they were also immortalised on The Simpsons, so this is definitely legit.
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