Ever since Justin Bieber first rose to fame as a child, he has been under an extremely harsh spotlight, to say the very least. Since Bieber had the world watching him ever since he was a kid, the tabloids have been there to document most of the ups and downs in his life.

Now that Bieber has become an adult, he seems to be in a much better frame of mind than he has been in the past. After all, Bieber seems to be delighted by the life he leads with his wife Hailey Bieber, and the music he makes sounds more personal than ever.

Of course, long before Justin and Hailey walked down the aisle, Bieber was involved in another much-talked-about relationship with the pop star and actor Selena Gomez. Together off and on for years, at one point it seemed like the tabloids were addicted to covering Bieber and Gomez’s relationship even if there was nothing to say at the time.

Unfortunately for Gomez and Bieber, there were many tabloid stories about their relationship that painted them in a negative light. Given all the gossip about his relationship with Gomez and where he was in his life at the time, it is fascinating to look at if Bieber regrets getting involved with Selena so early in his life.

Does Justin Bieber Regret How He Treated Selena Gomez?

At one point in Just Bieber’s life, it seemed like virtually everyone was calling him out. Since that is an exceedingly rare experience, it is hard to imagine how Bieber handled that pressure and it makes perfect sense that he recorded the song “Lonely”.

While it seems healthy that Bieber has expressed how damaging the spotlight can be, that doesn’t mean that he avoids taking responsibility for his role in the criticism he has received in the past. Instead, Bieber has apologized in the past for being “arrogant and conceited” and he has agreed he deserved a lot of criticism.

Given that Bieber once apologized for the way he was acting in general at one point in his life, that makes it fascinating to know how he looks back at his relationship with Selena Gomez. After all, Bieber was often depicted as the bad guy in his relationship with Gomez.

Of course, the only two people who truly know what went on between Gomez and Bieber behind closed doors are the two of them. That said, when Bieber spoke to i-D Magazine in 2015, he spoke about his relationship with Gomez.

During that interview, it was suggested that Bieber might have been too young to get into a serious relationship with Gomez when he did. Bieber agreed with that sentiment without missing a beat.

“I think so. I think with that relationship… I put so much of myself on the line with her, because I was so distant with everyone else. So it’s like, you have the world who’s loving you, but it’s not like they know my heart — they don’t know me.”

Bieber continued, “So when I found that love I was just like, ‘Woah, I want to hold on to this.’ And I just put everything into it and in reality there’s just no holding back. You’re just like, ‘This love feels so good.'”

From there, Bieber went on to describe what made his relationship with Gomez feel so special while they were together. “It’s like, magical,” he says. “There’s nothing like it. So I felt that and I just didn’t want to let it go. When it was hard, I was just like, ‘I want to stick this out. So it was on again, off again, on again, off again.”

After speaking about the connection he shared with Gomez, Bieber went on to talk about why dating her when he didn’t know how to be in love yet and in front of the world made things really hard.

“We were working out how to be in a relationship, how to be ourselves, who we were, in the middle of having people judge our relationship through the media. I think that really messed my head up too.”

Finally, Bieber finished by talking about how being on the road made things hard when he dated Gomez. “Because then, it’s like trust and all this other stuff that starts messing with your mind. You’re on the road. And there are beautiful women on the road. And you’re just getting yourself into trouble.”

Based on all of Bieber’s remarks, Justin clearly seemed to be saying that he wasn’t prepared to be a good boyfriend to Gomez when they dated, and it certainly appeared like he regretted that.

Does Selena Gomez Regret Dating Justin Bieber?

In 2020, Selena Gomez was being interviewed by NPR when her relationship with Justin Bieber came up. While speaking about her relationship with Bieber, Gomez said “I do feel I was a victim to certain abuse” and then quickly clarified she meant emotional abuse.

Given that Gomez described Bieber’s treatment of her as emotional abuse, it wouldn’t be surprising in the least if she said that she regretted getting involved with Justin. Based on what Gomez told the NPR interviewer next, however, it doesn’t seem like she regrets dating Bieber since their relationship made her stronger.

“I had to find a way to understand it as an adult. And I had to understand the choices I was making. As much as I definitely don’t want to spend the rest of my life talking about this, I am really proud that I can say I feel the strongest I’ve ever felt and I’ve found a way to just walk through it with as much grace as possible.”

During a separate interview with Elle in 2015, Gomez explained why she would always support Bieber.

“Genuinely, I’ll forever support him and love him in a way that…We grew up together. I think people want it to be different. We’re too young for that. Nobody was married.”