Once upon a time (in Hollywood), Jelena was the epitome of a teenage dream. But for die-hard fans of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, it was a teenage nightmare when the singers finally called time on their eight-year, on-off romance in March 2018. Four months later, the Baby hitmaker announced his engagement to Hailey Baldwin, which triggered an onslaught of crossover and cheating claims - with many Jelena shippers accusing Hailey of 'stealing' JB.
These rumours have never been addressed by Hailey. Until now.
Appearing on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, the model finally put the speculation to bed, emphasising that the only two people that know the truth of the situation are her and Justin, 28.
'When [Justin] and I started hooking up, or anything of that sort, he was not in any relationship. It's not my character to mess with someone's relationship, I was raised better than that,' the 25-year-old said.
Hailey – who had briefly dated Justin between December 2015 and January 2016 before they got their happily ever after – also alluded to how fans interpreted Justin and Selena’s split, saying, 'Perception is a really tricky thing, because when you're watching something from the outside, you can see it one way, when it might not be the reality of what happened behind closed doors. I know how we get to where we are. Period.'
If that wasn’t enough, Hailey’s answer to whether she was ever romantically involved with Justin at the same time as Selena made her stance crystal clear: 'No. Not one time.'
Justin and Selena, 30, parted ways more than four years ago, but much of their fanbase continue to support the relationship – aiming hatred at Hailey. In one particular incident Jelena fans were urged to harass and post hateful comments on an Instagram Live Hailey was conducting.
Explaining how she handles such situations, Hailey said, 'There's a certain numbness that you get. It still happens to this day, if I was to go live right now, it would still be happening. You reach a point where you have to ignore it.'
And to top it all off, Hailey shocked listeners when she revealed she’d spoken to Selena since tying the knot with Justin, admitting that knowing she was 'all good' brought her a 'lot of peace'.
Us too. We can rest easy tonight.