Scooter Braun, the longtime manager for Justin Bieber, said he once thought the singer was “going to die” in 2014, when Bieber was arrested for DUI, charged with assaulting a driver and sentenced to two years probation for a prank.
“There was a time when I would go to sleep almost every night — when he had the money to fly away from me — and I was worried every night that I was going to lose him,” Braun told The Red Pill Podcast host Van Latham, reports Entertainment Tonight. “I thought he was going to die. I thought he was going to sleep one night and that he would have so much crap in his system that he would not wake up the next morning.”
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In 2014, Bieber ran into law enforcement multiple times. In January 2014, he was charged for a DUI, resisting arrest without violence and driving with an expired license after he was allegedly involved in a street race. Only days later, he was accused of assaulting a limousine driver and surrendered to police in Canada.
That same month, he was also accused of egging a neighbor’s home in Calabasas, California. In July 2014, he was ordered to serve two years probation, serve 40 hours of community service and pay $80,000. In June 2016, a judge agreed to end the probation 30 days early.
In the Miami case, Bieber reached a plea deal in August 2014, agreeing to make a $50,000 donation to a youth charity, take 12 hours of anger management courses and attend a class on the impact of drunk driving, CNN reported at the time.
During all these scandals, Braun said he stayed by his client’s side and hoped he would get his career back in order.
“He used to complain, and he used to fight it and that’s when he got into a dark place, but when he accepted his responsibility and took a hard look at himself and not what everyone was doing, that’s when he owned it and he got healthy,” the manager said. “…He used to yell and scream at me, and he wanted to put music out, he wanted to tour, but I thought if he did that, he would die. So, I just refused.”
Bieber later made a “conscious choice” to change, Braun continued.
“I think for a year and a half I failed miserably trying to help him, because for a year and a half he didn’t change… It wasn’t until one day he woke up and said, ‘Hey I need to talk to you, I don’t want to be that person anymore,’” Braun said.
Braun went on to tell Latham that Bieber has become an “extraordinary young man” and was happy for Bieber, who recently announced his engagement to model Haley Baldwin.
Bieber and Baldwin announced their engagement in July.
“My heart is COMPLETELY and FULLY YOURS and I will ALWAYS put you first!” Bieber wrote on Instagram. “You are the love of my life Hailey Baldwin and I wouldn’t want to spend it with anybody else.”
Photo credit: Miami Beach Police Department via Getty Images
