The Shady Side Of Hailey Bieber
Hailey Bieber, formerly Baldwin, grew up in the entertainment industry as a part of the famous Baldwin acting dynasty. Her parents, Stephen and Kennya Baldwin, have been married since 1990, and they raised Hailey alongside her older sister, Alaia Baldwin. But since marrying Justin Bieber in September 2018, Hailey has experienced an even greater level of fame, bringing intense public scrutiny.
As for how she deals with intrusive online criticism, Hailey told Cosmopolitan, "I've found that I got to a place where I don't read the comments." She continued, "You really have to train your brain to be like, 'Okay, why do I even care? I don't know these people, they don't know me, they're not a part of my life or my relationship.' People can just be mean, and I feel like if you don't want it to get to you, then don't read it and allow it to affect your soul." Still, it can't be easy to navigate worldwide fame, particularly when Hailey's past actions have been called into question.
From her high-profile romance with pop superstar Justin Bieber to her alleged feud with his ex-girlfriend, join us as we explore the shady side of Hailey Bieber.
She allegedly bullied a classmate in middle school
Having grown up as the daughter of movie star Stephen Baldwin, Hailey Bieber has likely experienced immense privilege throughout her life. As a celebrity herself, Bieber's character has been called into question on several occasions, with one critic suggesting that the model wasn't very nice in middle school. According to Your Tango, in a since-deleted video, TikTok user Kimona Elizabeth posted, "Think you can hurt me? Hailey (Baldwin) Bieber was my middle school bully."
Elizabeth shared a follow-up video in which she elaborated on her claim. "I was in 5th grade," Elizabeth explained. "Hailey was in 6th. She bullied me. Middle school is full of kids who are either the bullies or the bullied. Unfortunately, I was the bullied. And for that year, Hailey was my bully." However, Elizabeth didn't seem to hold a particular grudge against Justin Bieber's wife. Still, it's curious to find out that she may have had some shady interactions with some of her classmates when she was young.
She was obsessed with Justin and Selena's relationship before dating him
In September 2018, Hailey Baldwin tied the knot with superstar Justin Bieber in a courthouse ceremony. Having known each other since they were kids, the couple was perhaps always meant to be. However, online sleuths have also pointed out that Hailey seemingly had an unhealthy obsession with her future husband when he was dating pop star Selena Gomez. As reported by Buzzfeed, fans unearthed a tweet from May 2011 in which Hailey declared, "I'm for sure 100% #Jelena," referencing the name Gomez and Justin were referred to as a couple.
In September 2011, Hailey seemingly doubled down on her Jelena love when she tweeted, "I don't care what anyone says, but Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez together is the definition of a teenage dream!" Follow-up tweets suggested that Justin and Gomez had an enviable relationship, while Hailey saw herself being single forever. Basically, Hailey was a huge fan of Justin and his ex before she ever got involved with the musician, leading some to wonder how she ended up taking Gomez's place.
She was called out for racist tweets
In 2019, Hailey Bieber found herself at the center of a scandal when some of her old tweets resurfaced. Per J-14, Bieber was called out for posting some seemingly racist statements, which she has since deleted. In one post from January 2012, Bieber allegedly wrote, "Shut up before I smack you back to your own country!"
In another tweet, posted in November 2013, Bieber reportedly wrote, "To those foreigners who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so sorry your country didn't have Pilgrims and Indians to start such a sick holiday." Understandably, Bieber faced a slew of backlash for posting such problematic messages, with one user on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) creating a thread to highlight some of the model's most egregious posts. The thread even highlighted Bieber's alleged use of multiple racial slurs, suggesting that her online activities had been highly offensive in the past. While she seems to have considerably cleaned up her act on social media, her previous comments haven't been entirely forgotten.
She faced a trademark lawsuit over the name Rhode
In June 2022, Hailey Bieber launched her skincare brand, Rhode — the model's middle name. However, it wasn't long before Bieber's fledgling skincare line faced legal trouble. Purna Khatau and Phoebe Vickers, the owners of the successful fashion brand Rhode, sued Bieber for trademark infringement in June 2022. They even claimed the model had unsuccessfully attempted to purchase the name from them four years earlier, per People.
In July 2022, a judge ruled that Bieber could continue promoting Rhode while the lawsuit proceeded. At the time, a representative of the fashion label Rhode told Page Six, "The court ruling is simply a decision by the judge not to prohibit Hailey Bieber's skincare line from using our brand name while litigation proceeds, deferring the ruling until we have the opportunity to gather more evidence."
Everything seemingly went quiet regarding the lawsuit until September 2023, when Law360 reported that Bieber and the owners of the fashion label Rhode had come to an agreement, which led to a New York federal judge dismissing the suit. Despite the resolution, Bieber's skincare launch certainly caused a lot of controversy.
She was accused of cultural appropriation over her 'brownie glazed lips'
On August 23, 2022, Hailey Bieber shared a TikTok selfie video in which she modeled a sleek makeup look. "Ready for all things fall, including brownie glazed lips," she captioned the short clip, showing off her glossy lipstick. Comments underneath the post were quick to call out Bieber's supposed new invention, noting that the glazed lip look had been worn by women of color for decades. One X user called out Bieber's decision to seemingly claim the technique as her own, writing, "i'm crying because she took a lip combo that black and latina women have been wearing since the 90s and named it 'brownie glazed lips' to make it sound cute lol like if you gonna try to make something trend then least you could do is give credit from where you got the inspo."
Reporting on Bieber's moment of cultural appropriation, Time noted that the look has long been attributed to Mexican Americans and Black and brown women who created a nude lip color — often using eye and brow liners with a clear lip gloss on top — as lipsticks weren't available in the correct shades at the time.
She apologized to a waitress over alleged rude behavior
Social media allows the public to connect with famous people — and expose them for supposed bad behavior. In July 2020, a TikTok video was posted by Julia Carolan in which she rated celebrities she'd served while working at a restaurant in Manhattan, New York. The video has been watched over three million times and called out several famous people, including Kylie Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and Hailey Bieber. "Next up, we have Mrs. Bieber," Carolan said. "This is going to be controversial. I've met her a handful of times, and every time, she was not nice." She continued, "I really want to like her, but I have to give her, like, a 3.5 stars out of 10. Sorry." It seems that Carolan's impression of Justin Bieber's wife was far from flattering.
Eventually, the bad review got all the way back to the model herself, who reportedly commented on the TikTok, "Just came across this video, and wanted to say sorry if I've ever given you bad vibes or a bad attitude." She continued, "That's not ever my intention!" Hopefully, she's since changed her ways.
Hailey Bieber shaded Taylor Swift on TV
In 2023, a video of Hailey Bieber hosting an episode of "Host the Mic" in 2018 started circulating online via TikTok. In the clip, Bieber made a gagging face when Taylor Swift's album "Reputation" was mentioned. Understandably, Swift fans were not best pleased by Bieber's apparent diss of the pop star, and Selena Gomez enthusiasts apparently took the gesture as an affront to them, too. Somewhat surprisingly, Gomez decided to respond to the viral clip of Bieber. "So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game," Gomez commented on the video, proving that she definitely has Swift's back. And that's not all.
The Biebers again hit the headlines in 2023 when another old video recirculated. In this particular clip, Justin impersonates an unforgettable moment involving Swift, in which the "Cruel Summer" singer got upset about bananas while on medication following laser eye surgery. Hailey could be heard laughing in the background of the video, leading fans to believe that the Biebers were ruthlessly mocking Swift once again.
Allegations that Hailey Bieber 'stole' Justin from Selena Gomez
At one time, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber were one of the most celebrated celebrity couples. After first meeting in 2009, the pair started dating in 2010, and after an on-again-off-again relationship, they split in late 2014. Soon after their breakup, Bieber was linked to Hailey Baldwin, but he shot down rumors that they were anything other than friends. However, by December 2015, Bieber and Baldwin were seen kissing in St. Barts, but the romance seemingly didn't last long. In October 2017, it was reported that Bieber and Gomez were spending time together again, and they would make their rekindled romance Instagram official in March 2018. However, that same month, news broke that they were reportedly taking a break from one another. In June 2018, it was revealed that Bieber had gotten back together with Baldwin, and after a whirlwind romance, the pair got engaged a month later.
Fans have long wondered if there was any overlap between Bieber's relationships with Gomez and Baldwin, as he seemed to switch between the two on several occasions. Baldwin, now known as Hailey Bieber, addressed the cheating claims during an appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast in September 2022. "He was not in a relationship ever, at any point," she claimed. "It's not my character to mess with someone's relationship. I would just never do that. I was raised better than that."
Did Hailey only marry Justin Bieber to give him a green card?
After marrying in a courthouse in New York, the Biebers followed up their low-key nuptials with a big wedding a year later, on September 30, 2019, in Bluffton, South Carolina. While the speed with which the pair tied the knot seemed to concern some fans, others were apparently worried that Justin only married Hailey to obtain a green card. The rumors followed reports in September 2018 that Justin had applied for U.S. citizenship before his marriage to Hailey, leading some to wonder if the two events were connected.
Justin reportedly applied for dual citizenship, intending to remain a Canadian citizen. The site also noted that Justin's relationship with Hailey would likely bolster his citizenship application, along with the fact that he'd built a successful career in the United States since he was a teenager. Evie magazine shared several TikTok videos from fans suggesting that Justin had married Hailey for a visa, with some referring to the video for DJ Khalid and Drake's song "Popstar," in which Justin mouths the words, "Ariana, Selena, my visa." According to the site, it was denoted that the "my visa" line referred to Hailey in particular. Despite rumors swirling online, it seems unlikely that Justin married Hailey purely to obtain U.S. citizenship, but that hasn't stopped fans from speculating about the strange timing of the pop star's application.
Hailey has allegedly shaded Selena online multiple times
Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber have inadvertently been pitted against one another, having both dated pop star Justin Bieber. However, not all the alleged drama between the pair is manufactured, with multiple claims suggesting that Hailey has made a bad habit of shading Gomez online. In February 2023, it was suggested that Hailey had intentionally snubbed Gomez when she reshared a video displaying her skincare line, Rhode, with the song "Calm Down" by Rema playing over the top. But she didn't use the hit version featuring Gomez's vocals. Whether or not this was an intentional snub remains unclear, but many fans thought Hailey was sending a clear message to her husband's ex.
Also in February 2023, the supposed feud was ignited once more. After Gomez shared an Instagram video where she suggested she'd over-laminated her eyebrows, Hailey teamed up with Kylie Jenner. The pair shared close-ups of their own styled eyebrows, apparently mocking the singer.
Perhaps most notably, after Hailey appeared on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast in September 2022, Gomez seemingly responded to some of Hailey's comments about her. "Somebody made a comment, and it involved me, and then for two days, I felt bad about myself," Gomez told Rolling Stone. Whether or not these two will ever be friends remains to be seen, but it certainly seems Hailey isn't averse to online drama.
Does Hailey Bieber keep copying Selena Gomez?
As well as being embattled in a number of online feuds with Selena Gomez, Hailey Bieber has also been accused of copying the "Only Murders in the Building" star. For instance, Gomez launched her cooking show "Selena + Chef" on Max in 2020, giving viewers a glimpse inside her own kitchen. In December 2022, Bieber launched her own cooking show on YouTube called "What's in My Kitchen?" which took fans inside her house. As a result, comparisons between the two series were quickly made.
Tattoos provide further evidence that Hailey Bieber has copied Selena Gomez. Both Bieber and Gomez have "G" tattoos behind their ears, which is certainly a strange coincidence. In 2015, Refinery29 revealed that Gomez's tattoo was a tribute to her little sister Gracie. Meanwhile, Bieber was reportedly one of many celebrities to get a "G" tattoo behind her ear in tribute to her pastor Chad Veach's daughter Georgia, who lives with the rare brain condition lissencephaly. Whether or not Bieber actually decided to copy Gomez is unclear, though it doesn't seem as if fans will stop believing that Justin Bieber's wife is taking notes from his ex-girlfriend.
Did she hook up with Drake while dating Justin Bieber?
Prior to getting married to Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber was linked to rapper Drake, with some outlets suggesting that there may have been overlap in some of her relationships. Hailey and Justin were first romantically linked in November 2014 before going their separate ways in 2016, although it's unclear when exactly their split occurred. In June 2016, Entertainment Tonight reported that Hailey went to dinner with Drake at Ysabel restaurant in Los Angeles, California, before meeting afterward at The Nice Guy bar in West Hollywood. Photos of the pair raised eyebrows. While Hailey was pictured arriving wearing a necklace featuring an "H" charm, Drake was spotted wearing the exact same charm on his own chain when leaving the bar. It was also reported that Drake and Hailey got together at a Memorial Day party hosted by the rapper, and they seemed pretty into each other.
As for whether or not there was any overlap between Hailey's romance with Justin and her alleged dalliance with Drake, it would seem that 2016 was a somewhat tumultuous year for the model. Speaking to Vogue, Hailey said of her split from Justin, "Negative things happened that we still need to talk about and work through." She continued, "'Fizzled' would not be the right word — it was more like a very dramatic excommunication." However, it would seem love prevailed in the end.