Justin Bieber's mom writes of painful past
Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber performs on stage during his concert in Manila..
Pattie Mallette was 18, living in a home for pregnant girls
after years of unrelenting sex abuse and depression when she gave birth
to a boy she thought she'd name Jesse, a boy whose first cry sounded
like a song.
Well, the baby seemed more like a Justin after he popped out. And his last name isn't Mallette.
It's Bieber.
You'd have to be firmly under a rock not to know at least a little
bit about Justin Bieber's YouTube-to-riches story, his loyal fan base of
Beliebers, 28 million Twitter followers or the hordes of screaming
girls who pack his tours.
What you probably don't know are his mother's struggles, starting
with the painful divorce of her parents, through years of emotional
turmoil and hard partying that made school a blur, and her eventual turn
to God after a suicide attempt about six months before Justin was
conceived.
Mallette, 37, has laid bare her past in a new book, "Nowhere but Up:
The story of Justin Bieber's Mom," out recently from the inspirational
publisher Revell. It's a powerful, plainspoken story, written in
collaboration with A.J. Gregory, a mother herself.
A portion of proceeds
have been promised to shelters like the one that harbored Mallette in
Canada when her mother kicked her out of the house after she got
pregnant.
Her troubles began well before that, however, and Mallette has forgotten little.
"Writing the book was part of my healing process," she said in an
interview. "Just having to relive things as I'm writing it down. There
are parts that are still painful to go over."
She was 2 when she watched her alcoholic, abusive father walk out the
door. She was about 3 when she was first sexually abused by someone she
knew. Mallette doesn't identify her numerous abusers, including a male
baby sitter and the grandfather of a friend, but the last words of her
book's acknowledgments speak volumes.
"To my abusers: I forgive you."
"I was sexually violated so many times that as the years went by it
began to feel normal," wrote the petite Mallette. "It's a strange
marriage -knowing something is wrong yet at the same time finding it
familiar and commonplace."
Fear, self-loathing and the notion that she was an unlovable, "dirty
girl" stretched through her life, and she says the "void of having a
father in my heart" led her down rough paths - drinking and drugging to
oblivion, beginning at age 14.
There was pot smoking and LSD. She left home at 16. To support
herself and pay for her habits, she turned to petty crime and pot
dealing and the toxic, on-again-off-again, four-year relationship she
had with Justin's father, Jeremy Bieber, that began when she was 15. At
17, she threw herself in front of a truck and landed in a mental ward.
It was there that she found a Christian life, though her faith
faltered soon after and she fell back into her old life. Sex with Jeremy
left her pregnant. She resisted intense pressure from those around her
to have an abortion: "I knew that I had to do what it took. I just
couldn't abort him."
There was no returning home and she went on government assistance
after Justin was born. She worked part-time jobs for diapers and rent,
wondering how to proceed without a high school diploma, wondering how
she could go back to school with no one to care for Justin.
With the help of a neighbor who paid for a year's worth of daycare,
Mallette slowly earned her degree, followed by college training in
website design on scholarship.
Meanwhile, her son's perfect rhythm on the drums, his guitar playing
and singing talent, surfaced early, along with a hyperactive nature and
love of soccer and hockey.
He earned extra cash as a busker on guitar and a djembe drum he had
received as a gift. Singing on the streets for money is something
Mallette said she never forced him to do but earned them thousands of
dollars after the first time he tried for fun at age 6.
Success snowballed when Justin was 12 on the strength of YouTube
videos Mallette posted for faraway relatives that were quickly
discovered by young people and exploded with millions of views. Along
came
Scooter Braun, a persistent manager who launched Justin's career at
barely 13, fresh out of junior high.
He's 18 now, his mother's age when she had him. Mallette said he's
pushing for his independence, moving alone into a house he bought in
Calabasas, California. Mom wasn't invited to join him but lives nearby.
"He doesn't want me in his space so much but he's doing really well
for himself," said Mallette, who once traveled with him everywhere.
Justin has a fancy sports car that was a gift from Braun and earned
him a speeding ticket in July as he was chased by paparazzi. He also has
a girlfriend, Selena Gomez, whom Mallette adores.
"She's just a sweetheart. She's kind and generous and loving," said mom, who's often called just that by fans on Twitter.
Mallette first told Justin about her past when he was about 12, after she began sharing at small-group meetings.
"I felt like he was old enough, mature enough to hear my story, and,
you know, talk about it," Mallette said.
"I feel like it's really
important for us to talk, and I've always asked him a lot of questions
and always tried to protect him from going through the same sort of
thing."
At 21, Mallette made a choice to abstain from sex outside of
marriage. Still never married and holding strong, she IS ready let go of
another promise, this one to Justin when they first moved to the states
that she wouldn't date until he was 18.
"It's time to start dating," she smiled.
Will Justin have a say over suitors?
"I think he's going to be a tough one to please," Mallette said.
"He's pretty protective, but yeah, definitely, he would have to approve"
