Justin Bieber, who just celebrated his 28th birthday last week, shared a sweet snap of himself as a young child with his dad on Instagram. Along with the snap, he simply captioned the throwback photo, “Love you dad.”
In the throwback snap, the father-son duo can be seen hanging out by a lake while shirtless, giving one another a high-five as they smile at each other. A few days prior to Justin’s throwback post on Instagram, Jeremy wished his eldest child a happy birthday with another blast from the past photo from when the Grammy Award-winning artist was a baby, writing, “Happy birthday son! #28 wow.”
Justin, who has been open about the ups and downs when it comes to his family life in the past, hasn’t always had the best relationship with his dad. Previously, the singer has detailed in interviews, Jeremy was only 18 when Pattie Mallette, then 17, gave birth to Justin in 1994. The pair never married and split shortly after Justin arrived, according to a November 2015 Billboard interview.
Jeremy was “not in a place where he could raise a kid,” Justin told the outlet, noting that his dad left “for like a year” when he was 4, and mom Mallette was his primary caregiver. “I remember my mom said, ‘If you’re going to be here, you have to be here.’ There’s a misconception that he’s this deadbeat dad, but he has been in my life since,” asserted Justin. “I was with him on weekends and Wednesdays.”
Meanwhile, in an Instagram post in 2017, Justin penned an emotional tribute to Jeremy, touching on their ever-evolving relationship. “I️ love continuing to get to know my father,” he wrote. “I️ love working through hard things to get to the good things… relationships are worth fighting for especially with family!! Love you forever and always daddy!”
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