[imagesource:abc]

People close to Justin Bieber are reportedly very worried about his well-being.

According to multiple sources, the 30-year-old pop star is struggling to trust those around him, especially since old videos resurfaced of himself hanging out with Sean “Diddy” Combs following the rapper’s arrest for racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution.

The insiders say the haunted-looking star — who has been open about substance use and anxiety and depression, admitting he previously used Xanax to deal with the “shame” of his promiscuity — is battling the ghosts of his past, per Page Six.

This has been expounded since worrying videos resurfaced of the disgraced music magnate making TV appearances with the teenage star.

In one clip, Combs, standing alongside 15-year-old Bieber, says to the camera: “He’s having 48 hours with Diddy, where we hanging out and what we’re doing we can’t really disclose. But it’s definitely a 15-year-old’s dream … for the next 48 hours he’s with me and we’re gonna go full crazy.”

In light of everything that has surfaced about Diddy, this sounds incredibly alarming.

When the two appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2016, Diddy boasted of then 16-year-old Bieber, saying “He knows better than to be talking about the things that he does with big brother Puff on national television” — adding, “Everything ain’t for everybody.”

In yet another clip, Diddy is seen patting Bieber down — as if checking for a wire — before they get on a private flight.

Another video shows Diddy telling the youngster, “You ain’t been calling me and hanging out the way we used to” — which a Hollywood legal source described to Page Six as “Diddy is basically bullying Justin.”

According to the industry insider, “Family members are concerned about Justin.”

“It’s unclear whether Diddy would have taken advantage of Justin at the time as his family was nearby, and his manager Scooter Braun really did care about him.”

“But saying that, Justin did go through a really bad period, a very rebellious phase.”

At just 19, Bieber’s wild ride took a sharp turn when Swedish authorities raided his tour bus, uncovering a stash of undisclosed illegal drugs and a stun gun. As if that wasn’t enough, mere months later, he was caught by paparazzi slipping out of a Rio de Janeiro brothel after reportedly spending three hours there.

“Do I believe he was involved in some stupid s–t? Yeah,” one industry insider, who worked with Bieber’s team for years, told Page Six. “He was a teenager. He was the biggest pop star in the world. Everyone was worried about him, and we didn’t know if he would survive it. People took advantage of everything he did.”

But a music source said it’s a two-way street: “Justin’s done some really crazy s–t and he’s alienated the people around him. He doesn’t trust them.”

In 2014, seven years after being ordered to take anger management and DUI education courses after being caught speeding with substances in his system, Bieber posted a photo of himself leaving jail, writing, “Not proud of where I was at in my life. I was hurting, unhappy, confused, angry, misled [sic], misunderstood and angry at god.. I also wore too much leather for someone in Miami.”

In 2017, he was banned from touring China for “bad behaviour”, while in the same year, his concert tour was cut short when the singer experienced burnout. His manager Braun said it had come to a point where Bieber’s partying was so out of control, it wasn’t clear if he would make it.

“I thought he was going to go to sleep one night and have so much crap in his system that he would not wake up the next morning,” Braun told “The Red Pill” podcast in 2018. “There was a time where I would go to sleep almost every night, when he had the money to fly away from me, and I was worried every night that I was going to lose him.”

The ‘Never Say Never’ singer then married Hailey Baldwin and admitted to suffering from depression as well as struggling with drug use in the 2020 YouTube documentary Justin Bieber: Seasons.

“There was a time where I was sipping Lean [Codeine cough syrup and soda], I was popping pills, I was doing Molly, you know, shrooms, everything,” Bieber revealed. “It was just an escape for me.”

One can’t help but wonder what it was that he felt he needed to escape from.

Beiber also wept on camera in 2020 when he told Apple Music host Zane Lowe about wanting to protect singer Billie Eilish, who was then 18.

“It was hard for me being that young and being in the industry and not knowing where to turn, and everyone telling me they loved me, and turn their back on you in a second,” Bieber explained. “I just want to protect her. I don’t want her to go through anything I went through. I don’t wish that upon anybody.”

Bieber sold the publishing rights and artist royalties from his song catalog to music investment company Hipgnosis, in a deal valued at just over $200 million, in January 2023.

It’s been one hell of a life for the celeb, who is now an avid churchgoer and a new father, since Hailey gave birth to their son, Jack Blues, in August.

The singer’s family are said to be in love with baby Jack, an industry insider adding, “People have tried to take advantage of Justin for a long time. We just don’t want anything to divert from Jack and his life now.”

[sources:okmagazine]&pagesix]