When Justin Bieber signed his first record deal with Usher‘s label in 2008, his mother Pattie Mallette had no doubts he would be a star.
Pattie, 49, was fundamental to her son’s early success – accompanying him on his first trip to Atlanta to meet music entrepreneur Scooter Braun, and uploading videos of Justin singing cover versions of famous songs to YouTube, where his talent was first discovered.
It was Pattie – who gave birth to her son at a home for teenager mothers a month before her 19th birthday – who was in charge of signing Justin’s legal documents as his career took off, and she admitted the task was ‘daunting’.
Being suddenly thrust into the machinations of big record companies and talent agents would be a bewildering task for anyone, but it’s fair to say that Pattie was vulnerable after overcoming a very difficult past.
Abused as a child from the age of 5 by a male babysitter and a friend’s grandfather, she’s recalled how she becamse so accustomed to being violated ‘that it began to feel normal’.
After abusing drugs and alcohol in her teenage years to mask the pain, she raised Justin in social housing and worked two or three jobs at a time to support them.
So, after years of struggle, it was no wonder that Justin’s sudden rise to fame felt like the reward they had been waiting for.
Sadly, that naivety had a part to play in Justin’s path to a whirlwind life of fame, leaving him potentially vulnerable to some of the industry’s most dangerous and predatory stars.
Just a year after being signed to Island Records, a 15-year-old Bieber spent a now-infamous 48-hour period with Diddy seemingly unsupervised at the rapper’s home, where they went ‘full buck crazy’.
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Justin Bieber’s mother Pattie Mallette was crucial to her son’s early career success (pictured in 2013)
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But unknowingly, her wish for her son to succeed meant she signed him away to a vulnerable life of fame, eventually meeting rapper Diddy (pictured with Bieber in 2010)
Sean Diddy Combs has now been charged with a host of sex trafficking and racketeering offenses with upwards of 120 alleged victims already coming forward, with the rapper’s relationships with Usher and Bieber coming under renewed scrutiny in the wake of the allegations. Combs denies the claims.
Bieber himself, a new father to Jack Blues with wife Hailey, is said to feel ‘disgusted’ by the allegations against Diddy and wants ‘nothing to do with’ him.
Questions have been raised about how such a doting mother could leave her only son in such a vulnerable position and allow Diddy to become a ‘mentor-like’ figure to him.
Sources close to Justin exclusively told the Daily Mail that he ‘should never have been allowed to party with Diddy or anyone else when he was a teen.’
They claim he was ‘thrown to the wolves’ by his mother and largely absent father Jeremy Bieber, with whom she split a few months after Justin’s birth.
There is no evidence to suggest Bieber’s parents, Usher, or Reid knew about Diddy’s alleged criminal activity at the time.
But Pattie herself was still young – and had her only son at 18 years old, just a month before she turned 19.
Born on April 2, 1975, Mallette grew up in Stratford, Ontario, the daughter of Michael and Diane.
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Pattie, now 49, mainly raised Justin as a single mother, having broken up with his father shortly after his birth
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Though Justin once claimed he wasn’t ‘close’ to his mother in an interview, they spent Christmas together
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She also appears close to Justin’s wife Hailey, with whom he recently welcomed son Jack Blues (Pattie and Hailey pictured)
But even before she was born, tragedy had struck the family – her sister Sally had died after being hit by a car when she was five years old, while their mother was pregnant with Pattie.
After her violent alcoholic father left when she was two years old, Pattie endured years of sexual abuse, with those responsible including a friend’s grandfather and a male babysitter.
In her memoir Nowhere But Up: The Story of Justin Bieber’s Mom, published in 2012, she claimed she was first molested at the age of three, continuing until she was 14.
In the book she wrote: ‘I was sexually violated so many times that as the years went by it began to feel normal.
‘It’s a strange marriage – knowing something is wrong yet at the same time finding it familiar and commonplace.’
As a teenager, she turned to drugs and alcohol as a balm for the pain she’d experienced, and supported herself by selling weed and cigarettes.
‘I started drinking alcohol and smoking pot when I was fourteen. There were more parties than I knew what to do with, and every one of them featured some type of mind-numbing substance,’ she wrote in her memoir.
‘Getting drunk and high for fun turned into a means of self-medicating. I couldn’t get through a class at school or a holiday function with my family without being stoned or drunk. By the time I was sixteen, I couldn’t function at all without numbing myself in some way.’
Aged 15, she was raped by a boy her age she met at a party, shortly before getting together with Justin’s father Jeremy – a four-year on and off relationship she admits was ‘doomed from the start’.
By the age of 16 he was already attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, but found it hard to stick to the 12-step program and would fly into a rage when drunk and accuse her of cheating.
‘The majority of our on-again, off-again four-year relationship would be unhealthy, suffocated by mind games and distorted by insecurities,’ she recalled.
Aged 16, Pattie’s relationship with her mother had deteriorated badly and she moved out of home to live with three male friends – and spent her time mostly drunk or sleeping, and rarely going to school.
‘I worked odd jobs to get money for rent and to fuel my drug habit,’ Pattie recalled.
Eventually, to create the ‘kind of cash flow I needed to keep up my partying’, Pattie started stealing cigarettes to sell, and then progressed to dealing pot.
‘It was quick and easy, and because I looked so young and clean-cut, I was the most unsuspecting drug dealer you could find,’ she said. ‘It’s a miracle I never got caught. I could have gone to jail.’
She also recalled struggling with bouts of anxiety and depression, writing of the ‘unmanageable weight of panic’ she felt at times.
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Pattie released a memoir Nowhere But Up: The Story of Justin Bieber’s Mom, published in 2012, which provides crucial insights into his rise to fame
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Pattie recently posted on Instagram to celebrate Justin’s 30th birthday, showing the pop star presented with a large cake
Aged 17, she tried to take her own life by stepping in front of an oncoming truck after yet another row with Jeremy, who threatened to expose her darkest secrets.
‘In that moment all I could hear was a threat that cut to the deepest part of my core. All I felt was darkness. Pure, utter darkness,’ she said.
Luckily, the driver swerved and her life was spared – though she was admitted to the psych ward in Stratford General Hospital, where she found her faith in God for the first time.
After leaving hospital, she did her best to distance herself from her old partying lifestyle, but there was a shock in store.
At a routine gynaecologist appointment, Pattie discoverd she was pregnant with Jeremy’s baby.
Her mother told her she was done raising children, and Pattie had to leave home.
On March 1, 1994, just one month before she turned 19, Mallette gave birth to Justin, her only son, while living in a home for teen mothers, the Salvation Army’s Bethesda Centre in London, Ontario
On the day his son was born, Jeremy was in the county jail for getting into a fight – and remained there for the first 11 days of Justin’s life.
As a young boy, Justin grew up living in close proximity with his mother, living in small apartments together.
‘I was on mother’s allowance, the Canadian equivalent of welfare, until I could support Justin and myself full-time. I didn’t make much more than nine or ten thousand dollars a year, which included part-time jobs and social assistance.
‘Justin and I didn’t have much. It was a struggle to buy diapers and formula, but I managed to make it work. As poor as we were, my son never lacked for anything,’ she recalled.
Jeremy was in and out of their son’s life, and Pattie insists that contrary to some reports, he didn’t just show up again when Justin became famous.
‘Today, Jeremy is a totally different person than he was when Justin was a baby,’ she said. ‘He has changed in many ways for the better. Being a father is his first priority. It’s evident in the way he is a full-time parent to his two younger children (from another relationship) and to Justin. I’m proud of what a great dad he has become.’
In Chapter 15 of her memoir, she details the early stages of her son’s career after his covers of songs she uploaded to YouTube went viral.
She was by his side for his first visit to Atlanta to visit Scooter Braun, and their eventual move there from Stratford.
Her writings emphasise her faith in her son’s talents, while also admitting she ‘didn’t know’ what his success would actually entail.
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Pattie (pictured in a recent Instagram post) has admitted she has struggled with mental health in the past
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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Justin Bieber attend Ciroc party at Vanquish Lounge on February 5, 2014
She says in her book: ‘I believed in Justin with all my heart and was excited for his new future.
‘I knew without a doubt how talented he was and how much he wanted this. I just didn’t know what to expect.’
And while signing his documents, she revealed she was ‘afraid’ her decisions would ‘put him in the path of unhealthy, long-term relationships’ – in words that have now become haunting as the allegations surrounding Diddy have surfaced.
Pattie writes: ‘Things were happening so big and so fast with Justin. I was responsible for signing contracts that could affect a large portion of Justin’s life.
‘Pages and pages of legal jargon were being presented to me each day and even though I had an attorney who helped me walk through each paragraph, it was still a daunting task.
‘At the end of the day, I was Justin’s mother. I was accountable for any documents for any documents I signed, or any deal I authorised… I was afraid of making a mistake.
‘What if I signed something that steered Justin in the wrong direction, or put him in the path of unhealthy, long-term relationships?’
‘But I couldn’t allow those questions and fears to complicate things. God wouldn’t have put me in this situation to fail. I began to follow my instincts. I’m sure I made mistakes along the way, but what parent doesn’t?’
Diddy behind bars: The disturbing and troubling resurfaced videos
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Usher (right) brought Justin Bieber (left) to music mogul L.A Reid (middle) as a ‘gift’ when he was a ‘beautiful’ 14-year-old boy
Unknown to Pattie, the signing would trigger a chain of events that ultimately led Bieber to his mentor for many years, P Diddy.
Usher brought Bieber to music mogul L.A Reid as a ‘gift’ when he was a ‘beautiful’ 14-year-old boy, music mogul L.A. Reid wrote in his tell-all memoir in 2016.
In a video taken during that time and shared to YouTube by Bieber, Diddy, then 40, turns to the camera and says: ‘He’s having 48 hours with Diddy, where we hanging out [sic] and what we’re doing we can’t really disclose.
‘But it’s definitely a 15-year-old’s dream. We’re gonna go full, buck full crazy.’
Reid first met Puff Daddy, as he was then known, while looking for a new A&R man, and was so ‘knocked out’ by his creative talents that he introduced him to Clive Davis and ensured he got the advance, recording studio and everything he needed to create Bad Boy Records.
When Reid – who is himself being sued for sexual assault and harassment by a former colleague – signed Usher as a teenager, he sent him off to be mentored by Diddy for a year when he was 14-years-old.
Usher played a huge role in jump-starting Justin’s career. While their relationship has always been seen as professional, in 2016, the Yeah singer revealed that he felt like a mentor, and Justin was more like family to him.
Justin quickly became involved with the Caught Up crew which featured P Diddy, who also became a mentor to him.
Justin Bieber and Usher arrive at NBA season opener in LA
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Reid wrote in his tell-all memoir about his first interaction with Justin, who according to the music producer has a ‘beautiful’ face, trendy hair and natural charisma. Pictured: Bieber with L.A Reid (left) and Usher in 2010
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Usher and Justin pictured performing onstage during the 53rd GRAMMY Awards in 2011
And it was also thanks to Diddy that when Bieber’s voice broke, it didn’t derail his future with Island Records.
By his own admission, Reid had wanted to drop Usher when the same thing happened.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, he revealed how P Diddy was the one to talk him around, telling him: ‘Don’t be a fool. Don’t sell your stock in Usher. He’s still going to be a star. He’s everything you thought he was the day you signed him.’
With that advice in mind, he hired a vocal coach to help Bieber through the transition.
‘I wasn’t that way to Usher. I didn’t give him the same kind of love and support at the time. But Puffy was right,’ he said.
Though his father Jeremy was absent for much of his childhood, in recent years he has rekindled his bond with his son.
In 2015, Bieber told Billboard that his relationship with his mother was ‘pretty non-existent’, adding: ‘I was distant because I was ashamed. I never wanted my mom to be disappointed in me and I knew she was. We spent some time not talking.’
Jeremy was absent for much of Bieber’s childhood, once leaving for an entire year when Justin was four. The pair later worked to rebuild their relationship, however, with Bieber telling GQ in 2016 that he was now ‘a lot closer to my dad than I am to my mom’.
Resurfaced videos of Diddy being ‘creepy’ with Bieber over the years
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Justin’s wife Hailey was moved to share a bold post featuring her husband Justin this week because she wanted to show the world how she feels amid the Diddy speculation
However, Pattie, now 49, frequently posts gushing messages about her son to Instagram, as well as sweet photos of the two of them together.
Her profile picture is even her hugging Justin, while she spends the Christmas period with Justin and his wife Hailey.
In March, she wrote in a post on Instagram for Justin’s 30th birthday: ’30 YEARS! Just like that. Happy birthday Justin. I’m not going to lie I’ve had a few good cries this week looking back through photos reminiscing.
‘Time goes by so fast. It’s been amazing to see you become the man you are today. I’m so honored to be your mom. I love you more than you know. I can’t wait to see the great things God has planned for you ahead. You ain’t seen nothing yet!’
Sean Diddy Combs has now been charged with a host of sex trafficking and racketeering offenses with upwards of 120 victims already coming forward, with the rapper’s relationships with Usher and Bieber coming under renewed scrutiny in the wake of the allegations.
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Despite wanting the best for her son, Pattie revealed that his early career was ‘daunting’
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Footage of an interview with Sean ‘ Diddy ‘ Combs and Justin Bieber has gone viral following the rapper’s arrest
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During the interview, the pair reflect on the friendship that they had at the time, but one comment stood out to fans
Fears have been mounting for Bieber’s mental health in the wake of Diddy’s arrest.
In 2009, Combs ceased hosting his famous ‘White Parties’ for A-list friends and allegedly ramped up his seedier, notorious ‘Freak-Offs’ at which many of the crimes listed in the New York indictment are said to have taken place.
Combs pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and was denied bail, despite his legal team’s request for him to be released for $50 million and kept electronically monitored.
A video has now resurfaced of Diddy, 54, and Justin, now 30, an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! together when the singer was only 16-years-old.
During the interview, the pair reflect on the friendship that they had at the time, but one comment stood out to fans.
When Jimmy asked how they became friends, Diddy replied: ‘I think that we have become friends in a strange way. It’s like Rob & Big,’ a reference to skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and his bodyguard Christopher ‘Big Black’ Boykin.
He added: ‘He’s, to a lot of us, he’s like a little brother. He’s not afraid to call and ask for advice. He’s somebody that industry wise, the record industry is a strong family.
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Diddy, Justin Bieber and Jimmy Kimmel on the show in 2011 – the video has since resurfaced
‘He’s somebody that we definitely have our arms around and we wanna protect him because he’s genuinely such a nice person besides his talents.
‘He’s one of the greatest kids you could ever know.’
Jimmy then asked Justin: ‘You know, Diddy bought his son a Bentley, maybe he could buy you one also while you’re at it.’
Justin responded: ‘He got me a Lamborghini. I haven’t gotten it yet, though,’
Jimmy said: ‘When is that coming? That Lamborghini. We talked about this last time.’
In remarks which have not aged well, Diddy explained: ‘The Lamborghini for a day or two and he had access to the house.
‘And he knows better than to be talking about the things that he does with big brother Puff on national television. Everything ain’t for everybody.’
The new father has been ‘advised to stay as far away as possible from anything and everything related to Diddy,’ a source close to Justin told Us Weekly .
A second source said Justin ‘is in a hard place mentally right now’ as he struggles to come to terms with the allegations against Diddy .
‘He has such a history with Diddy and the allegations against him have been hard to process.’
