Hailey Bieber on ‘Jelena’ fuss: ‘I was never with him when he was in a relationship’

Hailey Bieber spent the majority of her interview on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast talking about her husband, YouTube sensation-turned-global pop star Justin Bieber. The model also addressed the perceived overlap her relationship with Bieber appeared to have with “Jelena,” the term for Bieber’s protracted and high-profile romance with Rare Beauty founder Gomez from 2010 to 2017. The timeline also that I think sometimes is in question of like us getting together and getting engaged and him having been spending time with his ex before that — this is so crazy, I’ve literally never talked about this ever — I understand again, how it looks from the outside and there’s a lot of perception there, but that was a situation where I know for a fact that it was the right thing for them to close that door.” Bieber, who said she felt anxiety and discomfort during that portion of the interview, reiterated that her husband and Gomez were “not in a relationship at that time” and acknowledged their “very long history” before asserting that she was speaking for herself and not on behalf of either Bieber or Gomez. However, she did say that Bieber and her getting engaged and married “was the best thing that could have happened for him to move on.” “And it’s hard for me to talk about this because I don’t want to talk on either one of their behalf again, because it was their relationship and I honestly respect that very deeply, but I just know what was going on when we got back together. And that is respectful to me.” Bieber also began tearing up and said she gets nervous when she discusses the topic because she doesn’t want to “stir anything up, or like, bring anything up that is going to be like a thing.” She said she still gets a lot of hate from fervent Beliebers that’s perpetuated by rumors that she “stole him.” “I guess maybe that it just comes from like the fact that they wished that like he had ended up with someone else.