It's hard to remember a time before Justin Bieber posters were featured on bedroom walls across the world. He rocketed to fame at just 13 years old, sauntered through an impossibly seamless puberty (in a physical sense, at least), and continues to capture the hearts of Beliebers everywhere.
Now that the pop star is officially off the market, let's take a look at all the women who have managed to capture his coveted attention — and perhaps why his engagement has been seen as a complete wild card.
January 2011 - October 2012: Selena Gomez assumed her role as Bieber's first love.
Bieber and Selena Gomez, who had already been friends for some time, more or less confirmed their official status when they were photographed kissing on vacation in the Caribbean, according to Billboard. The storied relationship that followed included numerous red carpet appearances and grand romantic gestures.
The public first sensed tension in May 2012, when, according to the Mirror, Gomez posted a photo of herself firing a gun at a shooting range with the caption "releasing some stress today." She then deleted her Instagram account.
Five months later, Justin posted (and quickly deleted) a photo with the caption "Lingse." His eagle-eyed fans figured out that this was likely an anagram of the word "single," signaling that he and Selena had broken up.
October 2012 - November 2012: Bieber was linked to Miranda Kerr.
In the midst of rumors that Bieber and Gomez had trouble in paradise, Bieber was reportedly exchanging flirty texts with model Miranda Kerr.
Just days after the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on November 7 — where Bieber performed and was reportedly seen giving Kerr a peck on the cheek— the Associated Press and E! News confirmed his breakup with Gomez.
Neither Bieber nor Kerr have ever commented on their alleged relationship, but Bieber did eventually have an aggressive confrontation with Kerr's then-husband, Orlando Bloom. Multiple witnesses told TMZ that Bloom swung at Bieber after the pop star "said something to the effect of, 'I had sex with your wife.'"
November 2012: Bieber was also linked to Barbara Palvin.
Other outlets reported that Bieber was "hanging out" with model Barbara Palvin backstage at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Multiple photos surfaced of the two together, presumably taken at the Victoria's Secret after party.
One day later, the rapper Lil Twist posted a photo of himself, Bieber, and Palvin on Twitter — but quickly deleted it. Gomez later re-posted the photo to her own Twitter account, adding a vague comment ("……"), according to Hollywood Life, but then deleted hers as well.
Bieber and Palvin were also photographed attending the same performance of "The Lion King" on Broadway — although the model later denied romance rumors to Celeb Buzz.
"It was my sister's first time in New York and we so wanted to go to Broadway, but there were no more tickets," she told Celebuzz in January 2013. "I just came up and was telling him, 'My sister is here, but she's sad because we can't go to Broadway, no more tickets.' And he was like, 'Well, I can get you one.' And his friends came ... like six people and then me, my sister and agent. So [we're] friends."
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