Justin Bieber's Struggles: From Heartbreaking Coachella Performance to Diddy Connections and Hailey's £31M Debt Support

IT should have been the troubled prince of pop’s comeback moment – a chance to silence the haters and remind the world of his greatest hits.

But ’s set last weekend, his first large crowd gig in four years, was , a “snoozefest”, and “the worst performance ever” by attendees.

Justin Bieber’s headliner slot at Coachella was called ‘awful’ by some attendeesCredit: Getty Last year, the Sorry singer faced questions about this marriage to Hailey BieberCredit: Getty Justin was seen looking bleary-eyed and with dark circles out in New YorkCredit: BackGrid

The 32-year-old was criticised for his lacklustre show on Saturday, which at times saw him sit behind a desk in front of his laptop, obscure his face with a hoodie and stream clips from YouTube.

“The way Justin Bieber is just doing karaoke to his own songs at Coachella… I’m so disappointed!!” fumed one attendee.

Others claimed it was “the most low effort performance ever” and dubbed it “awful” apart from “five minutes of nostalgia”, where he played “one verse and chorus” for each of his biggest hits.

It’s believed Justin, who was reportedly paid a whopping $10million for the headline slot, wasn’t able to play all of his older tracks in full because he sold his music catalogue in December 2022.

Back then, sources claimed he was on the brink of “financial collapse”, having blown his pop career fortune – roughly estimated between $500m and $1bn.

Being unable to play the songs would have stung Justin’s lifelong fans, who watched him rise from a 15-year-old belting out hit Baby on YouTube to a world-renowned artist, who sold 150million records.

During his career, he has released , collaborated with everyone from Ludacris and Nicki Minaj to Ed Sheeran and scooped countless music gongs, including two Grammy Awards.

But over the past decade, Justin’s has been .

‘Pills & blunts’

It seemed to begin in 2017, when he was forced to pull out of a world tour due to mental exhaustion and in the years that followed, his health worsened.

Three years later, he was diagnosed with Lyme disease, which affected his “skin, brain function, energy and overall health”, and two years after that was struck with facial paralysis caused by .

In 2022, Justin cancelled his Justice tour, and owed AEG $40million as a result. Bruan’s company, HYBE America, helped the singer pay back the advance. Bruan also claimed the Baby hitmaker owed him several million in unpaid commissions.

He eventually settled the debt in July with the help of wife Hailey, who sold her beauty company Rhode for $1 billion.

There were also concerns that Justin had returned to using “heavy drugs”, as he had in his early career, to “escape” the pressures of being one of the world’s most famous pop stars.

Fears emerged last year, when he appeared far from the epitome of health – snapped on several occasions with sunken cheeks, dark circles under his eyes and often, a glazed-over stare.

The troubling images came just five years after Justin revealed the truth about his , which were so serious that those closest to him feared he would die.

The singer, who first , described his peak in the music industry as “trouble after trouble after trouble” due to his constant intoxication.

He said: “It was legit crazy scary… I was waking up in the morning, and the first thing I was doing was popping pills, smoking a blunt and starting my day.

“I decided to stop because I felt like I was dying. My security and stuff would come into my room at night to check my pulse.”

But was questioned after the concerning pictures emerged last year, and fears worsened after erratic posts on his social media accounts.

In multiple Instagram stories, he was seen smoking large roll-ups, which appeared to be marijuana joints, and posed next to a bong.

Justin was also photographed smoking a suspiciously large ‘cigarette’ while on a night out with comedian Dave Chappelle in West Hollywood.

Bieber didn’t look happy in January last year while walking around in New YorkCredit: Getty Fans were gobsmacked when he shared a photo of a bongCredit: instagram He was also pictured taking drags from what appeared to be jointsCredit: Instagram/justinbieber

The singer’s rep strongly denied claims of drug use at the time, calling rumours “exhausting and pitiful”, and insisted Justin was actually “in one of the best places of his life”.

They insisted his tired look was due to late nights recording music and added: “The recurring narrative that Justin is using hard drugs is absolutely not true…

“Despite the obvious truth, people are committed to keeping negative, salacious, harmful narratives alive.”

However, for all of his rep’s protestations, Justin clearly appeared to be unhappy while out in public and his erratic and cryptic social media posts weren’t helping his case.

‘Loose cannon’

It propelled rumours of there being troubles at home, and insiders claimed pals had urged Hailey, whom he wed in 2018, to leave him because of his “loose cannon” behaviour.

Questions about the relationship had existed for a long time. But in January last year, the rumour mill went into overdrive when the Baby hitmaker unfollowed his wife on Instagram.

He later claimed someone had hacked his account, and posted: “S*** is getting suss out here.”

Two months later, Hailey had returned the favour by unfollowing him too.

She also claimed it wasn’t intentional, adding on TikTok: “It’s a glitch. Didn’t unfollow him. Hope this helps!”

Sources at the time told Page Six that Hailey was “really concerned” about her husband because he was “going through a hard time”, but she felt there was “only so much she can do.”

Soon after, a different source told The Daily Mail that Hailey didn’t know “where to turn” for help and rumours spread of their marriage being in troubled waters.

Justin eventually hit back, moaning that he was treated “like a** out here” and that naysayers questioning his romance were “jealous” of their love story.

“It’s really up for us, and that’s understandable why people can’t stand it,” he said.

“I don’t blame them. Hailey and I are the Jones’ that are impossible to keep up with.”

Then, when Hailey landed American Vogue’s summer issue cover in May, Justin caught flak for a bizarre caption apparently ‘celebrating’ her success.

The singer wrote: “I told Hails that she would never be on the cover of Vogue. Yikes, I know, so mean.”

In the post, he explained that the Vogue comments were made during a “huge fight” and he asked for her forgiveness because “clearly I was sadly mistaken”.

Sources allegedly told Hailey Bieber to leave Justin last year over his behaviourCredit: GC Images The singer’s former close friend Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was jailed in OctoberCredit: Getty

Justin faced lashings online for the remarks and also his choice to share the snub online instead of congratulating her. He deleted the post soon after.

That same month later, he posted “Mother’s Day sucks a**” – despite it being Hailey’s first with their son Jack, now 19 months – before swiftly removing it too.

It was part of a series of erratic posts, including ones where he appeared to be smoking weed and launched into rants that bounced between vulnerable and volatile.

Justin stated in one post: “U could point at my flaws. Or u could recognize ur own lil b****.” In another, he said: “I know I’m broken… I know I have anger issues.”

Around that time, a source claimed pals had “advised [Hailey] to leave him”, adding: “His behaviour is sometimes unacceptable. She’s put up with a lot.”

Culled friendships

Justin’s rep downplayed the troubles but said it was a “transformative” 12 months for the singer.

They said Justin had also “ended several close friendships and business relationships that no longer served him.”

Among the culled former pals were assistants and bodyguards, and the singer appeared to between himself and them online.

In one, the unnamed sender complained, “I’m not used to someone lashing out at me”, only for Justin to reply: “Ouch. This friendship is officially over.”

The singer later admonished the sender for “calling my anger lashing out” and stated: “I wasn’t kidding when I told u I didn’t need u as a friend.”

Bieber shared screenshots of him breaking up a friendship online

In another, Justin vowed he would “never suppress my emotions for someone” and complained that asking “a traumatised person not to be traumatised is simply mean”.

He went on: “Conflict is a part of a relationship … If you don’t like my anger, you don’t like me. My anger is a response to pain I have been thru (sic).”

Additional strain would have stemmed from the highly-publicised sex trafficking trial of Justin’s teen mentor and friend .

The pair were close during his younger years and regularly attended parties together, including the music mogul’s celeb-packed ‘white parties’ – named after their all-white dress code.

Highlighting their closeness in one 2009 clip, boasted: “He’s having 48 hours with Diddy.

“What we’re doing, we can’t really disclose. But it’s definitely a 15-year-old’s dream – we’re gonna go full crazy.”

Yet Justin kept silent about Diddy throughout last year, only once stating through his rep to state that he was “not among Sean Combs’ victims”.

For much of last year, speculators questioned whether the Sorry singer would testify against his pal in court. He didn’t and kept tight-lipped about him.

In October, Combs was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for two counts of transportation for the purposes of prostitution, which were linked to his drug-fueled sex marathons, known as ‘freak offs’.

Justin, who released albums Swag and Swag II last year, likely hoped his Coachella performance would mark a clear end to a difficult few years.

But far from being back on top, the troubled prince of pop finds himself facing the public’s wrath once again and a slew of negative reviews.