Pop icon Justin Bieber opened up about his past trauma in a heated text exchange with an unidentified friend before abruptly cutting off the friend for good.
Bieber, 31, took to Instagram on Sunday to share a series of screengrabs of the conversation in which he appeared to accuse his friend of criticizing his behavior and struggles.
"I would never suppress my emotions for someone. Conflict is a part of relationship. If you don't like my anger, you don't like me," Bieber wrote in his first message before saying, "My anger is a response to pain I have been thru."
Bieber added, "Asking a traumatized person not to be traumatized is simply mean."
The friend replied: "I'm not used to someone lashing out at me. It's not that I don't see and feel your anger."
Bieber shared a follow-up message in which he announced that he was ending the friendship.
"Ouch. This friendship is officially over," he wrote. "I will never accept a man calling my anger lashing out. I enjoyed our short-lived relationship.
"I wasn't kidding when I told u I didn't need u as a friend. I have good friends who will respect these boundaries," Bieber wrote. "I thought u were a p**** which is why I always kept my distance but I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. This confirms u were the p**** I always thought u were."
The friend replied, "I'm a p****?" the friend wrote, to which Bieber replied, "Blocking u now."
Bieber later shared his thoughts on unsolicited advice, writing that he was constantly being told to heal — a sentiment he was well aware of.
"Don't you think if I could have fixed myself, I would have already? I know I'm broken. I know I have anger issues," he wrote, according to People.
"I tried to do the work my whole life to be like the people who told me I needed to be fixed like them. And it just keeps making me more tired and more angry," Bieber continued. "The harder I try to grow, the more focused on myself I am."
Bieber said his faith kept him strong.
"Jesus is the only person who keeps me wanting to make my life about others because, honestly, I'm exhausted with thinking about myself lately, aren't you?" he said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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