In a new interview, Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun admits “It’s been a rough year” watching the boy he discovered at the age of 12 stumble and make mistakes.
But Braun — described as the “the first Belieber” by Bloomberg TV’s Emily Chang — says he has faith in Justin.
In fact, the 33-year-old says he believes Justin’s extraordinary 2013-14 learning curve will make him a “better man.”
Offering his perspective on Justin’s journey from small-town YouTube child star to multiply arrested defendant, no doubt Braun sees the whole picture behind the headlines that most don’t, and has led many to simplistically write off a 20-year-old as a “bad boy.”
While Scooter doesn’t shy away from saying Justin has been sitting on the “stupid” step for some time, he insists this isn’t unusual.
“It’s been a rough year for me watching him because I really care about him,” the recently married, father-to-be adds.
“And you don’t wanna see anyone going through stuff. But to see him coming out on the other end of that right now, and knowing the plans for next year and the fact that — you know — he’s a kid,” Braun insists.
( Video: How Scooter Braun discovered Justin Bieber ).
“I’ve had to learn that it’s okay for him to step on that rake and let it hit him in the face. And he’s learned from those mistakes. And he’ll be a better man for it .”
Braun also opened up on what is likely one of the reasons for Justin’s previous acting out. Namely an almost total lack of privacy and being the target of often aggressive paparazzi attention.
He claims Bieber now “gets it,” and is no longer resisting the downside of intense fame.
Scooter revealed Justin talked to him about being mobbed in Europe.
“He said to me, ‘I went shopping in France… all I wanted to do was walk down the street and just shop, I didn’t want to bother anybody. I just wanted to shop, and there were 14 cameras around me and 200 people started surrounding [me],’” says Braun.
He says Bieber “came to terms with” that reality, and reflected along the lines of, “Don’t get angry, this is your life, and I’m okay with it, and there are blessing that come with this.”
At the end of Bloomberg’ s interview, which aired on Thursday, Braun signed off saying he was “proud” of the “young man” he believes Justin is becoming.
It is to be hoped Braun’s comments are an accurate reflection of what’s going on with the Biebs , and that future drama — because there’ll always be drama — is restricted to affairs of the heart.
The full interview with Braun on Studio 1.0 .