Why Hailey Baldwin Says It Was ‘Extremely Difficult’ Helping Justin Bieber Navigate His Sobriety

Although the couple have only been married for two years, Hailey Baldwin has already been through thick and thin with husband Justin Bieber.

Appearing on an episode of Amanda de Cadenet’s podcast Victoria’s Secret Voices this week, the 24-year-old model got candid about the difficulties she’s faced helping her husband Justin navigate his sobriety — after seeing those in her family go through the same struggle.

“There’s a lot of addiction that runs in my family, not even just my dad, but a lot of other people on that side of my family struggle with a lot of different things,” Hailey told listeners. “My dad was always really open about [his addiction] and I always appreciated that … He was always extremely open about why being sober worked for him and why we needed to be sober and what alcoholic behavior looks like, and why that comes out.”

Hailey’s father, of course, is actor Stephen Baldwin — and being the daughter of someone who has been an open book about their own struggles with drug use was an eye-opening experience for her.

“I was never somebody who struggled with any substances. That was because I was so aware of it because of my dad,” she explained. “He had a really big issue with cocaine and I was like, ‘I’m never trying it’ because I was so scared that if I tried it one time it might lead into something else.”

Having lived through his addiction also made her more aware of how to navigate her husband’s similar battle.

“When I was talking before about working on a lot of stuff when we first got married, I think that was a part of it too,” she elaborated. “Looking back on times of drug use and being in some dark spaces and having to kind of go back there was extremely difficult.”

“Being like, ‘Hey, where are you at with this?’ I’ve had times where I would get nervous, [asking Justin], ‘Are you OK to do this? Because you did have a time in your life where it was not OK for you and it was a dark time for you,’” she recalled. “But he has very good self awareness when it comes to that and is very open about it and that’s all I can really ask for.”

Since Justin and Hailey tied the knot back in 2018, the couple has been a target for internet trolls. Although the backlash has been difficult to deal with, Hailey credits her Christian faith for giving her “empathy” when it comes to navigating online hate.

“I think about it a lot because something what tends to happen all the time when you’re in the public eye is that people kind of invent who they think you are,” she stated. “I think a lot of people don’t have a lot of empathy for people in the public eye. I do think when people are like, ‘Well she asked for this,’ that’s actually not true because I didn’t ask for grown men to follow me around with cameras and harass me and invade my space and ask me really invasive questions and make me feel unsafe. I didn’t ask for that. Nobody wants that.”

“As I get older I’m a big believer that sometimes our no’s are more powerful than our yeses,” the 24-year-old concluded. “I always try to make sure that it’s like family first, and when I say family, right now family is me and my husband and the dog. I always try to put that at the top spot before work.”