Hailey Bieber says faith is ‘everything’ in her marriage to Justin, Hillsong church drew her to God
Supermodel Hailey Baldwin, known now as Hailey Bieber is gracing the cover of Elle’s 2020 March issue and in the issue she openly discussed her Christian faith and its influence in her marriage to pop star Justin Bieber.
Hailey and Justin first met as children after Hailey's father, Stephen Baldwin, introduced the two. They tried dating when the model was 19, but their lives were “going in very different directions,” she told Elle. The stars would later reconnect while attending a church conference.
“We ended up being at this church conference together in Miami, and it was the first time we’d seen each other in a while. I remember we were hanging out and I was like, ‘Listen, I’m really, really happy for us to be friends again. I want us to always be cool and be friends.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, here’s the thing: We’re not going to be friends.’ And I was like, ‘Oh. Is that so?’ ” she explained.
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Justin and Hailey had changed since the last time they dated and she credited their mutual belief in God as to what solidified their reunion and eventual fate as husband and wife.
“Being able to share that with each other—to have that bond of faith and spirituality—is so [critical] for us. It’s the most important part of our relationship, following Jesus together, being a part of the church community together. It’s everything,” Hailey said.
In the interview, the 23-year-old said she grew up attending a nondenominational church near Nyack but wasn’t really interested in her parents' faith until she moved to New York.
“As I got older, it got harder to follow church and the Bible because it felt very adult. I don’t want to sound wrong, but it was boring. I didn’t care about it anymore, until I found a church I felt was geared toward young people,” she explained. “And for me, that was the Hillsong Church in New York City.”
She first attended the popular Pentecostal church as a teenager and she found it appealing.
“It started to feel like my own little community of people who were also young and following God and just immersed in a church community,” she continued.
“Then I developed my own relationship to church and my own relationship with God, separate from being raised that way by my parents. That’s been a cool journey for me.”
Hailey’s aunt, singer Chynna Phillips, recently commended the model and her husband for their faith. She, a person of faith, hosts a Bible study in Los Angeles and hopes the Beibers will attend one day.
“That would be really fun,” the popular performer told Page Six of her niece visiting her meetings.
“They are awesome examples of what it is to be a Christian and I feel like they’re going to help pave the way for other young people to see it in a new light and see that Christianity is cool,” Phillips maintained.
Justin and Hailey were legally married in a civil ceremony in September 2018 at a courthouse in New York. The two then celebrated their marriage in October by holding a Christian wedding ceremony in Palmetto Beach, South Carolina.
In a past interview with Vogue magazine, Justin said he and his new bride waited to have sex until their wedding night because he vowed to God that he'd live a chaste life after battling a sex addiction.
They are now in couples counseling and are regularly seen with their church friends and pastors, many of whom attended their wedding ceremony.
