Justin Bieber says bodyguards would check his pulse while he was sleeping at height of drug use

• Justin Bieber opened up about his past drug habits in an interview with GQ.
• The singer said that despite his enormous success, he was still feeling empty and in pain.
• Bieber said he used the drugs as a "numbing agent to just continue to get through."
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Justin Bieber has opened up about the low point of his past drug use, which culminated in his own security guards slipping into the pop star's room at night to check if he was still alive.

The singer, 27, spoke about his past issues in the May issue of GQ, telling the magazine that despite his overwhelming success, he still felt empty.

"There was a sense of still yearning for more. It was like I had all this success and it was still like: 'I'm still sad, and I'm still in pain. And I still have these unresolved issues,'" Bieber said.

"And I thought all the success was going to make everything good. And so for me, the drugs were a numbing agent to just continue to get through."

Bieber said that he "lost control" of his own vision for his career, which was clouded by the opinions of numerous people surrounding him in the industry. The singer said that some people identify the insecurities of others and "prey" on them in order to use that for their own gain.

"And then you're this young angry person who had these big dreams, and then the world just jades you and makes you into this person that you don't want to be," Bieber said. "And then you wake up one day and your relationships are f---ed up and you're unhappy and you have all this success in the world, but you're just like: 'Well, what is this worth if I'm still feeling empty inside?'"

Bieber previously spoke about his drug habits in 2020, saying that he became addicted to taking pills and smoking weed at the age of 13.

"People don't know how serious it got. It was legit crazy scary," Bieber said in his YouTube series. "I was waking up in the morning and the first thing I was doing is popping pills and smoking a blunt and starting my day."

In his interview with GQ, Bieber said that his faith and his wife, Hailey Bieber, helped him to get through these dark moments.

"I came to a place where I just was like, 'God, if you're real, I need you to help me, because I can't do this on my own. Like, I'm struggling so hard. Every decision I make is out of my own selfish ego,'" Bieber said.

Justin and Hailey married in 2018, and while the singer said that the first year of their marriage was "really tough," Bieber credits Hailey with helping to have something "to look forward to" in his life.

Bieber said that they are "creating these moments for us as a couple, as a family, that we're building these memories."

"And it's beautiful that we have that to look forward to. Before, I didn't have that to look forward to in my life. My home life was unstable. I didn't have a significant other. I didn't have someone to love. I didn't have someone to pour into."