Justin Bieber Opens Up About Crying Paparazzi Photos and Managing His Mental Health

Antoinette Bueno‍

1 hour ago

Justin Bieber isn't ashamed to talk about his emotions.
In the latest episode of his 10-part YouTube docuseries, Justin Bieber: Seasons, that dropped on Monday, the 25-year-old singer talks about his headline-making paparazzi photos back in August 2018. Bieber was photographed in New York City crying as his now-wife, Hailey, comforted him.

"I remember just struggling," he recalls, holding up the photo. "I remember feeling, like, emotionally just overwhelmed and talking to her, not knowing how to communicate certain things and just feeling kind of frustrated. There has been a lot of things that have happened in my life and this was a point in my life where I was just like, so overwhelmed ... being a normal person and crying."
"When I look at things on the internet and people are like, 'Justin's upset, why is he upset?' It's like, they don't give me permission to be upset," he passionately continues. "I don't have 'permission' to be human and shed tears, and there are so many people every day who are in a conversation with their girl or their wife or their mom and they break down, but they don't have cameras capturing it. People are like, 'Is he OK, is he having a mental breakdown?' and I'm just emotional and, you know, I think that's OK."
Later, Bieber gets candid about his mental health while shooting his music video for "Yummy," his first single off his new album, Changes. The singer is clearly having a tough time, and at one point, he lies down on the floor.
"It was just a lot, a lot of people, a lot of dynamic, a lot of stuff," he explains. "I was in my head a lot and it's hard for me to really enjoy it like that, but I know that some days are just gonna be like that. In any work space, there's gonna be those off days where you just kind of feel like, 'I got a good crew, I should be good but today, I just feel off.' I think that day I was just a little off."
Bieber's health coach, Dr. Buzz Mingin, was present to help Bieber through filming the music video and explained one of the techniques he's taught the pop star to practice when he's feeling stressed, which is called "Havening."
"Havening is a psychosensory technique that actually raises the feel-good chemicals in your brain on demand," Mingin says as Bieber is shown continuously rubbing his head and face.
Hailey further explains, "It's basically like a self-soothing thing. Everybody has their own version of Havening without knowing it. It's like when you're a little kid and you suck your thumb to soothe yourself. When you're starting to feel really stressed out or just to keep yourself calm, it's almost like when you're a kid and your mom rubs your back to sleep and it's the best feeling in the world. It's kind of like that, except you're doing it for yourself."
Mingin says he and Bieber also have coordinated signals with each other so that the singer can let him know what’s wrong, how he's feeling and what he needs. Mingin says the key to Bieber's mental health now is to create "a structured, organized, predictable environment around him."
After members of Bieber's team explain how they've slowed his schedule down and also talk about the benefits to his brain now that he's sober, Mingin says it's done the singer plenty of good.
"The changes that I've seen with Justin are monumental," he notes. "He's matured tremendously. He's not living in survival mode anymore. His sleep is pretty wonderful ... and he's able to wake up in the morning and be cheerful and excited and exercise."

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