Justin Bieber's Mom Shares Personal Struggles in Her New Book
Justin Bieber's mother, Pattie Mallette, a Christian, faced numerous struggles including drug and alcohol addiction, teen pregnancy and attempted suicide before she gave birth to the teen heartthrob, according to a new book, Nowhere But Up.
In Nowhere But Up: The Story of Justin Bieber's Mom, slated to be released in September, Mallette says she felt "abandoned" and "unloved" when she went through the tough phase in her life. Pop sensation Bieber, her son who gives glory to Jesus for his success, has written the foreword to the 288-page autobiographical book.
Mallette, who has close to 1 million followers on Twitter, shares how as a young woman and a single mom she fought hard to rise above her painful past of abuse, shame, and poverty. She became pregnant when she was 18 years old. She had to undertake several low-paying office jobs to raise Bieber.
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But it's not just about her struggle. The author seeks to encourage troubled youth, struggling single moms, and the broken-hearted through her story.
Mallette wrote the book with ghostwriter A.J. Gregory. She is also the author of Silent Savior and Messy Faith.
Mallette was instrumental in Bieber's rise to fame. The turning point came in 2007, when Bieber's mother set up a YouTube account so that friends and family could watch her son sing Ne-Yo's "So Sick" at a local competition, according to Reuters. She continued to upload clips of Bieber performing R&B covers, and a fan base was born.
Bieber was finally discovered by Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def. While searching for videos of another singer, Braun accidentally clicked on one of Bieber's videos. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette.
Mallette was initially reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label! ... You don't want this Jewish kid to be Justin's man, do you?" according to The New York Times. However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13, to Atlanta to record demo tapes.
When Bieber won Best Male Video at MTV Video Music Awards last August, he thanked his Lord, Jesus Christ. "I just want to say thank you so much, not only to God but to Jesus," he said. "Because I wouldn't be here without him. He's really blessed me. He's put me in this position. So I want to say thank you so much."
Days earlier Bieber had won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Music: Male Artist, at which time he again put Christ ahead of himself. "You gotta keep God first, and always remember to keep family first," he said. "Jesus loves every one of you and I wanna say thank you so much, you guys are amazing."
