Being famous at a young age might seem like a great thing, but 21-year-old Canadian pop star Justin Bieber can attest to the fact that it isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Bieber told NME that he actually deals with depression "all the time" and he feels very "isolated" even though he is constantly surrounded by people.
"You're in your hotel room and there are fans all around, paparazzi following you everywhere, and it gets intense. When you can't go anywhere or do anything alone you get depressed. I would not wish this upon anyone," he said.
The singer actually identifies a lot with the late English singer Amy Winehouse, who struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues.
"I just want people to know I'm human. I'm struggling just to get through the days. I think a lot of people are. You get lonely, you know, when you're on the road. People see the glam and the amazing stuff, but they don't know the other side. This life can rip you apart," he shared.
"I watched the Amy Winehouse documentary on the plane and I had tears in my eyes because I could see what the media was doing to her, how they were treating her. People thought it was funny to poke her when she was at rock bottom, to keep pushing her down until she had no more of herself. And that's what they were trying to do to me," Bieber said.
Because of what he went through, Bieber admitted that he came to the point when he was just "rebelling against everybody and everything, and being a normal 19-year-old."
The "What Do You Mean" crooner has tried to build his life back with the help of Christian mentors and friends Pastors Carl Lentz and Judah Smith, but in the music front, Bieber has Kanye West to rely on to.
"Out of anyone in the industry who is creative and I see eye to eye with, he really gets me," Bieber said. "His advice is always just, 'make music that's so good people can't hate on it.' I didn't wanna bore him or waste his time. So I was like, 'Can I play you these songs?' and he was like, 'I wanna hear everything.' To hear him say that, it stuck with me. It just showed that he cared."
