Justin Bieber Praises God for Helping Him Be a Better Person
Justin Bieber thanked God for helping him grow as a person after going through a dark period where he rebelled against the world while being scrutinized in the public eye.
The 22-year-old Canadian crooner won the Male Artist of the Year award at the iHeartRadio Awards in California April 3. There, he reflected about some of the tumultuous experiences he underwent in the public eye.
"Thanks to God… I've experienced some tough times," Bieber said during his speech, according to Yahoo. "I think all of us. It's about just our growth and learning."
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The pop star started as a YouTube sensation who rose to fame at the age of 15. In 2014, Bieber had an especially tough year in the public eye after he was accused of assaulting a limousine driver in Toronto, egging his neighbor's home, being arrested for a DUI, questionable driving in Miami and allegedly taking part in lewd acts like urinating in a prison cell.
He previously spoke to the Mirror about the source of his behavior.
"I was rebelling against the world. I started to believe the hype and was acting a certain way," Bieber said. "I was just being a jerk. I got so involved in 'me me me'."
While the singer admits he has matured, he also knows there is more work to be done.
"There's so much I need to work on. And I'm still getting days where I'm depressed and upset," he revealed. "But I know that I'm not where I used to be. So that really keeps me motivated. I'm not where I wanna be. That's kind of a cool little slogan I've been living by."
However, he has publicly recognized that God has made him a better person.
"I feel like that's why I have a relationship with Him, because I need it. I suck by myself," he said in a GQ magazine interview. "Like, when I'm by myself and I feel like I have nothing to lean on? Terrible. Terrible person."
Although he admits to doing "stupid" things, the "Sorry" singer said his actions would be worse without God.
"If I was doing this on my own, I would constantly be doing things that are, I mean, I still am doing things that are stupid, but…It just gives me some sort of hope and something to grasp onto," Bieber said. "...A feeling of security, and a feeling of being wanted, and a feeling of being desired, and I feel like we can only get so much of that from a human."
The pop star admits he has been hurt by people and recognizes that he cannot rely entirely on others in the way he can with God.
"I've had people that burned me so many times," Bieber told GQ. "If we invest everything we have in a human, we're gonna get broken."
