Justin Bieber’s Wild Decline: A Timeline
The recent news of Justin Bieber's arrest in Miami for allegedly driving while under the influence and drag racing didn't, sadly, come as much of a surprise. The pop star has been frequently acting erratically – and perhaps illegally – for the better part of a year now. We tracked the lowest of the low moments.
By Hazel Cills
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November 2011: Baby Mama Drama
At age 17, Justin Bieber was hit with his first real controversy: a 20-year-old fan claimed he was her baby daddy. The woman even said she had taken Bieber's virginity backstage at a show. But after taking a paternity test under "very controlled circumstances," it turns out that that the baby bundle wasn't the Bieb's.
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September 2012: Bieber Blows It
The last thing an excited young Belieber expects at a show is vomit, but that's what many of his unfortunately situated fans saw at an Arizona show back in the fall of 2012. Halfway through a performance of "Out of Town Girl," Bieber doubled over and puked all over the stage. After an awkward apology to his audience, he tweeted "And…Milk was a bad choice! lol." Gross, Justin, just gross.
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March 2013: Paparazzi Punch-Up
In London, Bieber displayed some serious meltdown warning signs when he apparently went after paparazzi and had to be restrained. The resulting photo series is unintentionally hilarious, as Justin looked generally dazed and confused.
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March 2013: Gas Mask Style
Nothing says swaggy like. . .wearing a gas mask to dinner? Bieber went shopping and out to dine in London while donning what was probably the weirdest item of clothing item he's ever worn (and, yes, we're including his regular drop-crotch sweatpants steez in that category.) All in all, a weird trip to England.
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May 2013: Too Fast, Too Furious
Justin Bieber isn't exactly known for his acumen behind the steering wheel, and his road antics irked ex-NFL star Keyshawn Johnson, his Calabasas, California neighbor. Johnson apparently confronted the pop star about his speeding around their gated community in a Ferrari.
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July 2013: Wicked Pisser
After leaving a New York City nightclub with his friends back in July, Bieber decided to pee in a random bucket normally used for cleaning the club's floors. But the weirdest part about this caught-on-camera ordeal is that Bieber sprays a photo of Bill Clinton hanging in the club at the end of the clip, yelling "Fuck Bill Clinton!" The day after, he called the former president to apologize, later tweeting about how his "words mean a lot."
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July 2013: Gobs of Bad News
Apparently Bieber has some problems controlling his bodily fluids in public, because in July of last year he was called out for allegedly spitting on his fans. In a series of controversial photos posted on TMZ, the pop star is seen on a balcony, hocking a loogy on the fans below. TMZ was later called out for possibly photoshopping the pictures, but the website denied the charges. To this day, the mystery remains unsolved.
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August 2013: Too Much Monkey Business
Every troubled young pop star needs a stupidly eccentric pet they can't possibly care for. Bieber's came in the form of Mally, a capuchin monkey. After the Biebs left the poor little simian in Munich because he didn't have proper clearances, German authorities contacted the singer's team and told him he owed over $11,000 euros (the cost of caring for Mally). Now property of the country, Mally is currently spending his days in a German zoo.
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November 2013: Bedtime in Brazil
In Brazil, Justin Bieber was caught on camera allegedly sneaking out of a popular brothel in a totally awesome and not attention-grabbing at all disguise: a sheet. But the Brazilian hijinks didn't end there. Shortly afterwards, a video surfaced of Bieber, cuddled under a blanket, sleeping in bed. According to Bieber's crew, the photo was taken by a girl who "overstayed her welcome at his afterparty." The rest of the universe may beg to differ.
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November 2013: More Monkey Troubles
What's a meltdown without a bit of racist graffiti, right? Ever the monkey fan, Bieber posted a photo to his Instagram of him spray-painting a questionable-looking monkey (decked out in gold chains) on a building. "This is my escape," he captioned the photo but many critics wondered if his escape was hella racist.
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December 2013: Justin Calls It Quits
After a long, long career of, oh, five years, Justin Bieber announced via Twitter that he was "retiring." He'd already accomplished so much: three albums, two tours, puberty, megastardom. Best to end things before the inevitable decline, right?
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January 2014: Eggs, Drugs, and Butts
Early into his "retirement," Bieber did what any young star with free time on his hands and millions of dollars in his bank account would do: egg some houses. A neighbor called the cops, (because of course you egg the house of someone living next door), and the fuzz raided Bieber's house. They found weed and other drugs, the latter being linked to the star's latest friend Lil Za, whom he recently mooned on Instagram.
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January 2014: What a Drag
On January 23rd, Justin Bieber was arrested in Florida for allegedly drunk driving and drag racing. Even though he made sure to drag race in the most inconspicuous car possible (a bright yellow Lamborghini), Bieber was pulled over at 4:19 a.m., and failed a sobriety test. "Why the fuck are you doing this to me," he reportedly asked his arresting officers. Why indeed.
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January 2014: Canucklehead
Just a week after his Miami arrest, Bieber was back in the news. During a trip to his native Canadian soil, Bieber turned himself in to Toronto authorities and was charged in the assault of a limo driver that occurred in December, after the singer and some friends had attended a Maple Leafs hockey game. The pop star was given notice to appear in court on March 10th.
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January 2014: Massive Fail
January was just a plain bad month for Justin Bieber. Capping his horrible start to 2014, the troubled icon saw police documents surface alleged he was under the influence of alcohol, pot and Xanax when he was arrested during his road racing adventure in Miami earlier in the month. This came after his lawyer had entered a "not guilty" plea in response to the charges of DUI, resisting arrest and driving with an expired license.
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February 2014: Bieber Go Home!
Not only was Bieber struggling with judicial court issues, it appeared that he was losing in the court of public opinion, too. A WhiteHouse.gov online petition to deport the Canadian singer had become the second-largest petition in the site's history, earning 262,817 signatures. Only 100,000 signatures are needed to earn a response from the White House. The President, to his credit, has remained mum on the matter, but earlier in February, the First Lady advised Bieber's mother to be "very present in his life right now."
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February 2014: Flying High
Apparently people deal with flying anxiety in all sorts of ways: During a flight from Canada to New Jersey, Bieber and his father, Jeremy, allegedly ignored a pilot's request to stop smoking marijuana. A source told CNN that flight crew members donned oxygen masks because they didn't want to be test positive for drugs upon landing. With reported antics like this, maybe Bieber wants to be deported.