Justin Bieber was once forced to deny ‘drug problems’ after revealing he had been diagnosed with a chronic illness.
The 30-year-old ‘Boyfriend’ singer, who has since welcomed his first son Jack with wife Hailey, once put a statement opening up about his health out after receiving an avalanche of cruel messages from trolls online who suggested he looked like he was ‘on meth’.
Justin announced that he’d been diagnosed with Lyme disease back in 2020.
Justin Bieber was once forced to deny an alleged ‘drug problem’ after revealing his chronic illness diagnosis (Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Justin Bieber appears on Carpool Karaoke in 2015
According to the NHS, Lyme disease is a ‘bacterial infection that can be spread to humans by infected ticks’. The disease refers to the symptoms and health problems that develop as a result of the infection.
It’s usually easier to treat if it’s diagnosed early with one of the main early symptoms being a ‘circular or oval shape rash’ forming around a tick bite.
Some people also get flu-like symptoms several days or weeks after they were bitten by an infected tick, such as; a high temperature, or feeling hot and shivery, headaches, muscle and joint pain and tiredness accompanied with a loss of energy.
The ‘Boyfriend’ singer was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2020 (Instagram/@justinbieber)
Justin took to Instagram where he hit out against the drug-taking accusations from the online trolls, stating ‘they failed to realise I’ve been recently diagnosed with Lyme disease, not only that but had a serious case of chronic mono which affected my skin, brain function, energy, and overall health’.
Assuring fans he was getting ‘the right treatment’ to help address the disease, Justin added that he had not only being ‘battling’ with the condition but had also been working towards ‘overcoming’ it.
“It’s been a rough couple years but getting the right treatment that will help treat this so far incurable disease and I will be back and better than ever,” he added.
Justin’s wife Hailey has been extremely supportive throughout his health journey (Instagram/@haileybieber)
Just a matter of weeks after Justin opened up about his diagnosis, he was forced to plead with the press not to use sickly images of him in their stories, accusing magazines and newspapers of trying to ‘legitimately sabotage’ him.
Taking to his Instagram story at the time, Justin penned an emotional message.
“I don’t know what the algorithm is for why certain photos come up,” Justin, now aged 30, began.
“But this is so frustrating considering that I took a lot of time to get healthy and I feel as though people try to legitimately sabotage me.”
Justin previously explained why the situation was ‘so frustrating’ (Instagram/@justinbieber)
He went on to explain: “This was a time where I was really unhealthy. I was battling Lyme disease, right? All of the top photos are me looking disheveled, right?
“I was obviously going through a tough time, but it’s like, these are the photos that the media tries to run with.”
Justin joins a bunch of other major celebs who also have had the disease including the likes of; Yolanda Hadid, Bella Hadid, Ben Stiller, Amy Schumer, Shania Twain, Alec Baldwin, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Osbourne and Riley Keough.
