Justin Bieber is Holier Than Thou

Welcome to Thirstory, where we whet your appetite with pages from the Interview archive that were almost too hot to print. This week, Justin Bieber takes us to church with his August 2015 cover feature.

———

Back in 2015, Canadian wunderkind Justin Bieber sent his loyal band of Beliebers into a tizzy when he posed for the photographer Steven Klein. Channeling all of the tenacity and gusto of a young Marky Mark, the Grammy winner worked the camera in his Calvins, becoming Interview‘s designated enfant terrible. But contrary to the tough exterior Bieber put on for our cover, the Drew House founder is a very different man today. 

This September, Bieber marked the beginning of a new era with “Holy”, his new single featuring Chance the Rapper. With lyrics reading like a love note passed between high school sweethearts, the baby-faced singer hums about his overwhelming love for his wife Hailey. The effect, as Justin gets at, is akin to a religious experience—one that has the former sinner running like a “trackstar” toward sainthood. While we’ll always hold a soft spot for a bad boy, we’re not mad about the pop star changing his stripes. 

In a conversation that accompanied his Interview cover shoot, Martha Stewart, the domestic goddess herself, asked a then-single Bieber if he ever gets his hands dirty in the kitchen. In true bachelor fashion, Bieber told Stewart that the extent of his culinary skills exceeded their limit at pancakes, bacon, and eggs. “I cook breakfast, and that’s pretty much it,” he said. “For myself or if I have a girl.” While it’s still unclear if the performer’s cooking skills have expanded since he became a married man one year ago on this date, we do have a hunch Mrs. Bieber is the one less lonely girl being served breakfast after Sunday worship these days.