Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin) cut ties with her husband Justin Bieber’s former mentor Carl Lentz on social media after Hillsong Church fired the celebrity-favorite pastor.
The model, 23, recently unfollowed Lentz, 42, on Instagram in the wake of the scandal, while the “Holy” singer, 26, still follows him. Lentz, for his part, continues to follow both Biebers.
Hillsong Church’s global senior pastor, Brian Houston, announced in a press release on November 4 that Lentz had been let go.
“In terminating his tenure, we in no way want to diminish the good work he did here,” Houston said in a statement. “This action has been taken following ongoing discussions in relation to leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures. It would not be appropriate for us to go into detail about the events that led to this decision. Our focus at this time is to honor God and pastorally care for our East Coast church community as well as the Lentz family.”
The Hillsong NYC cofounder later revealed that he had been fired for cheating on his wife of 17 years, Laura Lentz, with whom he shares daughter Ava, 17, and sons Charlie, 14, and Roman, 11.
“Laura and I and our amazing children have given all that we have to serve and build this church and over the years I did not do an adequate job of protecting my own spirit, refilling my own soul and reaching out for the readily available help that is available,” he wrote via Instagram on Thursday, November 5. “When you lead out of an empty place, you make choices that have real and painful consequences. I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that. This failure is on me, and me alone and I take full responsibility for my actions.”
Carl baptized Justin and helped the Grammy winner turn to spirituality during a dark period in Justin’s life.
“I think Justin has a really deep, mature relationship with Jesus. I don’t think my teaching or my preaching has made even remotely as big of an impact as his own desire and passion and love for Jesus,” the Own the Moment author exclusively told Us Weekly in November 2017. “That’s how it should work. … I think all his changes are a credit to him and him allowing God to continue to use him. Nobody gets credit for that. I don’t know anybody … he’s done this. He’s worked really hard to put himself in a position to be the best Justin he can be, and I’m proud of him and inspired by him.”
Justin and Hailey quietly married at a New York City courthouse in September 2018 and held a traditional wedding ceremony with family and friends in South Carolina one year later.
