Justin Bieber has revealed that at the height of his drug use his security team would check his pulse as he slept to check he was still breathing.
The 25-year-old singer admitted that at his lowest point he would wake up and immediately smoke cannabis and swallow pills.
Speaking in the latest episode of his YouTube series “Justin Bieber: Seasons,” the pop star said he first smoked cannabis when he was 13 and later became dependent on it.
He moved on to harder drugs – including ecstasy and hallucinogenic mushrooms – as he struggled with the pressure of being one of the world’s most famous stars.
He also admitted to drinking the codeine cough syrup and soft drink combination known as “lean,” which is popular among many rappers.
The singer said the drugs were an “escape,” adding: “I was young, like everybody in the industry and people in the world who experiment and do normal, growing up things.
“But my experience was in front of cameras and I had a different level of exposure. I had a lot of money and a lot of things.”
He said he decided to get clean because he feared the drug use was about to kill him.
“My security were coming in at night to check my pulse. People don’t know how serious it got,” he said. “It was legit crazy scary.
“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. So it just got scary.”
Justin infamously had several brushes with the law, including allegations of vandalism, assault and driving under the influence.
In 2014 his smiling mugshot following an arrest for drink driving in Miami, Florida, went viral.
In the documentary series, he blamed his behaviour on his upbringing.
“I started valuing the wrong things in this business, because there was things dangling in front of me,” he said.
“If I get this, I’ll be happy. If I do this, I’ll be happy. These are things that I think a lot of people with secure households learn at a young age. I never had that security in a family. I never had that consistency. I never had the reliability and the accountability.”
He added: “My parents never gave me those tools to be a good team player.”
The singer’s wife, model Hailey Bieber, also appears in the documentary and said she chose not to get involved in his life until he “chose to get sober”.
The couple married in 2018.
While Justin has previously spoken about his struggles with anxiety and depression, he has now given fans an inside look at how he treats the illnesses, relying on an oxygen chamber to relieve stress.
He also works closely with brain disorder specialist Dr Daniel Amen, who features in the latest episode of “Seasons.”
