Tormented Justin Bieber meets with controversial pastor after admitting to ‘anger points’ amid marriage pressure
Justin Bieber was spotted heading to church in Los Angeles with a spiritual advisor in tow on Wednesday night.
The 31-year-old singer was pictured bundled up so that his head barely poked out of a large furry coat as he arrived with the Churchome pastor Judah Smith.
In recent years, Bieber and his wife Hailey have cozied up to Smith outside of church after he previously distanced himself from the disgraced Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz.
Justin was notably seen without his wife Hailey Bieber, who was seen arriving separately shortly afterward.
The trip to church comes after Justin recently admitted to struggling with ‘anger issues’ in a confessional Instagram post.
The message did little to allay fans’ fears for Bieber mental and physical wellbeing, which have surged due to his often-disheveled appearance and reports of strain in his marriage to Hailey.
Justin Bieber was spotted heading to church in Los Angeles with a spiritual advisor, Churchome pastor Judah Smith, in tow on Wednesday night
In recent years, Bieber and his wife Hailey have cozied up to Smith (pictured Wednesday) outside of church after he previously distanced himself from disgraced Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz
Justin was notably seen without his wife Hailey Bieber, who was seen arriving separately shortly afterward
The singer appeared to try to cast aside fan concerns about his health earlier on Wednesday by posting a video of himself pumping iron.
Bieber was spotted heading into the church while bundled up like a turtle with just a portion of his head peaking out.
He wore a large brown fleece jacket and layered it over a scarlet hoodie while also wearing a rolled-up gray toque.
The singer recently revealed that he had pierced his nose on social media, and he left his studded nose sticking out.
Justin also wore a pair of oversize khaki pants that looked ready to fall to the ground at any minute. They were accented with a patch of red-and-pink plaid material sewn over his rear end.
The Sorry singer completed his ultra-casual look with a chunky pair of tan suede shoes.
Smith was seen leading Bieber into the church while carrying a set of beige suede boots.
He wore a black leather jacket with a white shirt and bluejeans that were as baggy as Bieber’s pants.
The pastor had on a $45 brown houndstooth Elwood baseball cap, and he wore brown leather clogs that had a similar shape to Justin’s chunky footwear.
Bieber was spotted heading into the church while bundled up like a turtle with just a portion of his head peaking out
He wore a large brown fleece jacket and layered it over a scarlet hoodie while also wearing a rolled-up gray toque
Justin also wore a pair of oversize khaki pants that looked ready to fall to the ground at any minute and a chunky pair of tan suede shoes
They were accented with a patch of red-and-pink plaid material sewn over his rear end
Smith was seen leading Bieber into the church while carrying a set of beige suede boots. He wore a black leather jacket with a white shirt and bluejeans that were as baggy as Bieber’s pants
The pastor had on a $45 brown houndstooth Elwood baseball cap, and he wore brown leather clogs that had a similar shape to Justin’s chunky footwear
Smith was pictured appearing to give Bieber a pat on the back as he headed into the church. The singer has turned to Smith after distancing himself from former Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz in the wake of an infidelity scandal
Smith was pictured appearing to give Bieber a pat on the back as he headed into the church.
The pop star was once a devotee of the celebrity-courting megachurch Hillsong and its former pastor and co-founder, Carl Lentz, whom Justin once referred to as his ‘second father.’
But the two had a falling out after Lentz’s torrid extramarital affair came to light in 2020, and Bieber quickly distanced himself from Lentz.
Months later, he confirmed on social media that he was no longer a member of the church, and other celebrity congregants also stopped attending its services.
Into that cross-shaped void stepped Smith, who leads Churchome, which has aggressively courted celebrities after expanding from its Seattle origins.
Smith — who has labeled himself the ‘Lead Communicator’ for Churchome, while his wife Chelsea is its ‘Lead Theologian’ — took over the City Church that his father founded in Seattle, before he and his wife expanded to Los Angeles and changed the church’s name.
Although Bieber has increasingly turned to Smith after abandoning Lentz, the singer’s connection to him and what would become Churchome goes back around 15 years.
According to Marie Claire, Justin’s mother first saw Judah speak at a conference in Toronto in 1999, and she later contacted him and Chelsea in 2010 to ask if they could be ‘good influences’ for her famous son, whom they were well aware by then.
Smith was hit with controversy after saying being gay was a ‘sin’ as bad as ‘rape and murder.’ Churchome allegedly hired a man accused of rape and urged a woman not to tell police that she had allegedly been sexually assaulted by a church intern
Churchome was hit with a class action lawsuit in 2023 for its police of requiring employees to tithe 10 percent of their gross income to the church
Like Bieber’s former pastor, Smith has been dogged by controversy over the years. He has been accused of homophobia after previously saying that being gay was as serious a ‘sin’ as committing ‘rape and murder.’
Churchome also came under fire in the past for hiring an employee accused of rape, and a woman previously accused the church of encouraging her not to go to the police after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by one of its interns.
Then, in 2023, Churchome was hit with a class action lawsuit by more than 100 employees over its practice of requiring them to tithe 10 percent of their gross income — with the lead plaintiff allegedly being threatened with termination if she didn’t resuming tithing after she fell on financial hardship.
