Justin Bieber has been open about his sometimes strained relationship with his mom, Pattie Mallette. Now he’s ironing out a few issues with his dad.
The 23-year-old singer shared a touching Instagram post on Monday, December 4, that showed him walking alongside Jeremy Bieber.
“I love continuing to get to know my father. I love working through hard things to get to the good things,” wrote Bieber. “Relationships are worth fighting for especially with family!! Love you forever and always daddy!”
Bieber’s tribute received more than 38,000 comments from followers including his pal Patrick Schwarzenegger, who chimed in: “amen buddy . . . daddy issues!” (His parents are Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger.)
Bieber’s mother raised him on her own in a single-parent household when she had him at 17 and their close connection was detailed in his 2011 documentary, Never Say Never. But in recent years things have been rocky between them. As he told GQ in 2016: “I’m a lot closer to my dad than I am to my mom.”
Mallet and Jeremy split a few months after Bieber was born in 1994; the first-time father was 18 at the time.
“He was immature,” the Grammy winner said of Jeremy in a 2015 Billboard cover story. “He left for like a year when I was about 4, went to British Columbia, came back o Father’s Day. 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 I was with him on weekends and Wednesdays.”
