The line stretches around the corner, winding through a hedge and down Melrose Avenue. Excited young women in baggy jeans and baby tees wait patiently, their hair slicked back in center-parted buns, lips glossy, manicures flawless with almond-shaped nails. They’re all here for Rhode’s Los Angeles pop-up, hoping to get inside when the doors open. It’s a warm February morning, and some have been waiting for hours, eager to get closer to Hailey Bieber—the muse behind beauty trends like “clean girl,” “vanilla girl,” and “strawberry girl.” (The edible-inspired themes don’t stop there—think “glazed-donut skin,” “latte makeup,” “brownie-glazed lips,” and “cinnamon-cookie-butter hair.”) Over six days, around 9,000 people will show up for Rhode’s skincare products, lip glosses, and Instagram-worthy phone-case holders. But really, they’re here for Hailey—the model-turned-businesswoman behind it all.

What is it about Hailey Bieber? Why do fans stop her on the street, mimic her freckles, and line up for her $20 Erewhon smoothie collab? And why do others obsess over her flaws online—or even, as she’ll later tell me, follow and harass her in person? For her supporters, it’s her warmth, her ‘90s-inspired style, her natural beauty, and her fairytale life as Justin Bieber’s wife. For her detractors—after hours of scrolling through online drama—it seems to boil down to conspiracy theories: that she somehow trapped Justin in marriage, keeping him from his “true love,” Selena Gomez. Like most celebrity gossip, the negative narratives get more attention—scandals and villains sell.

When I meet Hailey in March at a cozy Los Angeles deli she and Justin often visit, the tabloids are buzzing with wild claims: that they’re moving to Europe for Justin’s mental health, that they’re in “crisis,” that he’s “manic” and “spiraling,” and that she’s suing over a bizarre deep-dive video analyzing her childhood social media posts alongside Justin’s concert history. (Some even speculate that influencers are paid to fuel the drama.)

Hailey doesn’t seem fazed as she arrives in tiny black sunglasses, a cropped black tank, stretchy pants, and a sleek leather jacket—a look that’s equal parts Pilates princess and Terminator. She cheerfully orders cinnamon roll French toast (exactly as decadent as it sounds) and a black coffee, followed by a mushroom scramble with bacon. I ask if the rumors about them leaving LA are true—after all, she just returned from Paris, where the Saint Laurent show could tempt anyone to relocate. She smiles wryly and shakes her head. “I saw that headline. There’s a new one every two days that makes no sense,” she says. Outside, paparazzi start gathering. “We’re not leaving LA,” she assures me. “We love it here.” The unspoken truth? Despite the chaos, she’s thriving—and yes, her skin is flawless.

Hailey and her older sister, Alaia, grew up in Nyack, a quiet suburb just north of New York City. Their mother, Kennya Baldwin, is a Brazilian-born graphic designer who met their father, actor Stephen Baldwin, on a crosstown bus.Hailey met her husband Justin Bieber on a bus when they were both 19—she was a student at Parsons School of Design at the time. They married three years later. Her mother, Kennya, was ahead of her time when it came to wellness—prioritizing organic ingredients, skincare, lymphatic massage, and sun protection—values she passed on to Hailey. Her father, Stephen, who battled substance abuse in the 1980s, taught her the importance of self-discipline. The family was deeply religious, with both parents embracing Christianity around the time their daughters were born.

Hailey spent part of her childhood at a Waldorf school, which focused on creativity and hands-on learning, before being homeschooled. She began modeling as a teenager, married Justin at 21, and later launched her skincare brand, Rhode, as her fame reached new heights.

Rhode was conceived during the pandemic but had been years in the making. Named after her middle name—a nod to her mother’s side of the family—the brand was built on the skincare principles Kennya had instilled in her. Rhode launched as a direct-to-consumer line with simple, effective formulas in sleek packaging at an affordable price.

“I’ve worked with so many makeup artists and estheticians,” Hailey says, “and I realized you don’t need a complicated routine for great skin.”

She thrives on routine and preparation, always researching skincare. She’s known for her “glazed donut” look—layered with moisturizers—and genuinely wants to know what others use on their skin.

“Rhode’s success is because of Hailey,” says Lauren Ratner, the brand’s president. “Consumers recognize authenticity.” That authenticity has fueled Rhode’s rapid growth. Though the company doesn’t disclose figures, reports suggest it could be valued at over $1 billion.

This success has shifted Hailey’s public image—from being known as Justin Bieber’s wife to becoming a powerhouse entrepreneur in her own right. “I never expected it to turn into this,” she admits. Rhode is set to expand into Sephora stores this fall, launching first in the U.S., Canada, and later the UK.

When Justin stepped back from music in 2022 to focus on his health, Rhode kept them in the spotlight. He often appeared alongside her at brand events—her career now taking center stage. Then, in August 2023, their lives changed again when they welcomed their first child.

Hailey, now 28, always knew she wanted kids—she thought she’d have more than one by now. Watching her older sister become a mother in 2020 filled her with excitement, but the timing wasn’t right for her back then. “I wasn’t ready at all,” she says. “Now, I believe things happen when they’re meant to.”“Everything happens exactly when it’s supposed to. I truly believe that.”

Pregnancy changed her body in obvious ways, but she didn’t mind. She stayed active and healthy with trainers on call, and after getting past morning sickness, she felt amazed every day by the miracle of growing new life. What surprised her, though, was how it shifted her sense of self and her connection to the world.

“It was hard for me to process the pregnancy at first. It was a surprise, and I went through so many emotions,” Hailey says. “People warn you: Your life will never be the same. It changes in beautiful ways, but it’s still a huge shift. You’ll never just be you without a child again. It won’t just be you and your partner anymore. Mentally, it was a lot to take in.”

The unknown scared her, she admits, and motherhood was full of it from the very beginning.

“Giving birth was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she says, despite preparing diligently for nine months. She did breathing exercises, acupuncture, yoga, pelvic-floor therapy, workouts, walking, and weight training. “I was on top of it. I did everything. I felt stronger than ever.” But the natural labor she hoped for didn’t happen. At 39 weeks, her water started leaking, and she had to be induced.

The doctors used Pitocin to trigger contractions and a Foley balloon—a catheter-like device inserted into the uterus and inflated with saline to help the cervix dilate. “That was insane. Not fun at all,” she says. “They broke my water, and I labored for hours with no epidural, nothing.” The entire process lasted 18 hours—shorter than the expected 24—and then he arrived: Jack Blues Bieber, the beautiful baby boy she’d dreamed of, whose presence she’d felt for months.

But she was still bleeding—badly. Postpartum hemorrhage happens in about 1 to 5% of deliveries and, if untreated, can lead to severe blood loss, organ failure, or even death. “It was a little scary,” she says calmly, picking at her bacon. (It’s moments like these that remind me why Justin has often called her his rock in an unpredictable world. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” he wrote to me, “but the smartest thing I ever did was marry Hailey.”)

“I trust my doctor completely,” Hailey says. “I knew she wouldn’t let anything happen to me. But I was bleeding so much, and you can’t help but think—people die from this.”

The doctors tried different medications to stop the bleeding, but nothing worked. Her newborn was taken away. “You start to panic,” she admits. Even in the best hospitals, a medical crisis can make you feel like a problem doctors are rushing to fix. It reminded her of the worst day of her life—when, during breakfast with Justin in Palm Springs in 2022, she had a transient ischemic attack (a “ministroke”). (The cause was later found to be a blood clot from an undiagnosed hole in her heart, called a PFO. She briefly lost control of her face and speech, was hospitalized, and later had surgery to repair it.)

In the delivery room, Hailey’s doctors inserted a Jada device to help control the bleeding.She had to undergo a painful medical procedure using a vacuum device to induce uterine contractions. No one could promise it would stop the bleeding, but she endured hours of treatment. “I just wanted to hold my baby,” she says, describing the anxious wait until she was finally out of danger.

This is the first time she’s shared her full story publicly. Society often portrays childbirth as natural, effortless, and private—something not to be discussed openly. But things can go wrong, even with all the resources in the world, even when everything seems perfect from the outside. She feels it’s important to share her truth. She doesn’t regret a thing and definitely wants at least one more child, maybe more. She plans to take it “one kid at a time.” Because things go right, too. Your partner looks at you differently—like, “My woman is a god. A superhero. I could never.” She smiles. “At least, that’s how it was for me.” Justin describes their family growing from two to three: “I’m living the days I always dreamed of.”

Motherhood pushes you to your limits, Hailey realizes now. She worked on her mental health like a muscle—finding a new therapist, confronting her emotions, taking placenta pills to help prevent postpartum depression, and continuing prenatal vitamins. She rode the hormonal rollercoaster, feeling extreme highs and lows. It was hard: she didn’t always recognize her body and struggled with postpartum body dysmorphia, experiencing a level of self-hatred she’d never felt before. At her lowest, she’d search for cruel online comments, looking for validation that she looked as bad as she felt—only to feel worse when she found them. “Every day, I have to remind myself: Hailey, you had a baby. You grew a human. You birthed a human. It’s okay. Give yourself grace. Give yourself time.”

Her body had always been something she felt good about, thanks to genetics, a healthy diet, and loving exercise. But shedding the last 15 pounds took longer than expected. She worked with a team of experts to rebuild her foundation—pelvic floor, core, spinal alignment. She’s had to accept that, just like her emotional self, her physical self will never be exactly the same. “When people talk about ‘bouncing back’—back to where? My hips are wider, my breasts are bigger. They didn’t go back. And that’s fine—I’ll take it—but it’s not the same body. You’re not the same person. You change from head to toe. For a while, I obsessed over returning to who I was. Then I had to accept: I’m not going back. So now it’s about: How do I want to move forward? Who do I want to be?”

The woman she is today—charging into the future—is someone she’s proud of. “I like myself so much more than I ever have,” she says. The word that comes up most in our conversations is strong. Motherhood has given her that strength. “There’s an ease that comes with it, a confidence,” she says. “You start caring less about so many things. You just think, I don’t have the time. I don’t have the energy.” Now, her focus is Jack—her baby, who depends on her every day, whose smile feels like Christmas morning. (“Everyone says that,” she admits, laughing at the cliché, “but it’s really true.”) “He’s my priority. He’s the most important thing to me.”Here’s a more natural and fluent version of the text while preserving its original meaning:

“Motherhood seems to have grounded her,” I remark. “It’s been my greatest teacher so far,” she replies. “Especially in my relationship—you see your partner in a whole new light.” She adds that Justin is an incredible father, a natural at parenting. “You understand your own parents much more once you become one. It gives you so much perspective.”

That perspective includes taking the long view—she’s stopped trying to convince people who misunderstand her. (Justin later writes to me that Hailey often becomes a target: “She’s in the spotlight because of her effortless sense of style, business acumen, and how she makes motherhood and marriage look easy.”)

“I’ve fought hard to make people understand me, to see me for who I really am,” Hailey says. “But sometimes people just don’t want to. There’s nothing you can do about that. I’ve tried telling my side of the story, correcting false narratives, exposing lies—only to be accused of lying myself. It feels suffocating.”

Lately, she’s started listening to loved ones who advise her to stop engaging, to ignore the noise. “Justin’s taught me so much about this. He’s dealt with intense scrutiny since childhood. He told me, ‘Trust me, I’ve been here countless times. You can’t win this battle—there is no winning.'”

What helps, she says, is having a strong marriage, genuine happiness, and a loving family. “Most of what’s written about me isn’t real,” she explains. “My reality is waking up to my beautiful family, my son, and friends who truly know and love me. That’s what matters.”

Therapy has been crucial in reaching this mindset. “I’m someone who needs to process things out loud,” she shares. “Talking through things helps me work them out.” As we finish, she signals to her security team across the restaurant.

“The postpartum period has been the most emotionally vulnerable time of my life,” she confides. “Rediscovering myself while constantly seeing online rumors about divorce and unhappiness—it’s mind-bending. I can’t even describe how surreal this life can be.”

Hailey found comfort in Ariana Grande’s response to body-shaming comments about her Wicked role: “I don’t invite that energy in anymore.” “That really resonated with me,” Hailey says. “I’ve reached a point where I refuse to accept negativity. We don’t have to let those things into our space.”

While she still manages her own social media (even editing her TikToks), she sets boundaries and avoids toxic online spaces. The one thing she can’t control? Paparazzi. We navigate past a group of photographers with massive cameras to reach her pristine SUV, which she drives us home in.

Their gated community has been home for five years. As we walk through the manicured park surrounded by grand homes, we pass an empty playground. “Jack will love this when he’s older,” she says. So far, they’ve kept their son out of the media spotlight.They keep his face hidden in any photos they share, and family outings are rare. “We don’t take him many places,” she explains. “You have to understand how invasive it all is—it feels cruel to expose a baby to that.” As if on cue, a woman in her twenties approaches us at the picnic bench where we’re sitting and asks Hailey for a selfie, plopping down beside her. For the third time that afternoon, Hailey politely agrees. Once the woman leaves, Hailey raises her perfectly groomed eyebrows (she’s a client of Anastasia Soare, the famous brow expert who also happens to be her neighbor). “That’s the first time that’s happened around here,” she remarks. To be fair, the neighborhood isn’t exactly bustling.

At her core, Hailey is a homebody—”comforting, almost motherly,” says Kendall Jenner, her close friend and frequent workout partner since they met on a red carpet in 2012. “I’m a bit of a hypochondriac,” Jenner admits, “and whenever I’d panic about something, she’d step in and just… take care of me.” (Jenner also describes her as goofy, witty, and wise beyond her years.) When I ask Hailey what she does for fun, acknowledging that most people just relax and scroll, she laughs, almost puzzled. “Honestly, I’m like, What even is fun for me?” She enjoys cooking, especially now that Jack is starting solids and she can experiment with recipes. “I made these three-ingredient banana donut holes the other day—he’s not ready for them yet, but I was like, You’re gonna love these when you’re two!” She loves dinners with friends and date nights with Justin. Though they admit to relying on Postmates like any young couple, they also host big gatherings—like their Coachella party in Palm Springs this past April (she wore a backless minidress and a new Rhode lip tint; he wore his usual oversized shorts and a grimace for the paparazzi).

Fitness is a big part of her routine. She rotates between strength training (“I like having a butt”), sculpt classes, Pilates (both hot and reformer), sauna sessions, cold plunges, yoga, chiropractic care, breathwork, stretching, facials, massages, and microneedling. Beyond that, she prefers staying home—either at their main house or their newly renovated desert retreat in Palm Springs. Among friends, she’s known for binge-watching new shows before anyone else. “I’m a cozy person. Our house is my sanctuary, my happy place. It’s where my heart is.” It’s also where she feels safest—something she mentions more than once during our time together.

This might sound restrictive—a woman in her late twenties confined to her gated, guarded homes, wary of the outside world. But that’s not quite it. Since Jack arrived, she’s been exploring her emotions more deeply. “I cry a lot more than I used to,” she says. She’s learning to embrace vulnerability, “to actually feel what I’m feeling, to admit when I’m not okay, and to express that openly with friends—like, I’m really struggling today.”

“I used to avoid confrontation,” she adds. “It was hard for me to speak up when something bothered me or when people crossed boundaries. Now, I’m much clearer about saying, This doesn’t work for me.” (“I see that growth in her every day,” Jenner confirms. “It’s been beautiful to watch.”)

We leave the bench, and Hailey drives us back to her house—another gated property in what a Los Angeles realtor might call “modern farmhouse” style.The house is called a “farmhouse,” though it’s hard to imagine what kind of farm would match its grand scale. The driveway is packed with cars—black SUVs and flashy sports cars in bright colors. Inside, we can hear a familiar voice singing. She hesitates before opening the living room door. “I forgot Justin is recording,” she says, sliding it open just enough for their two blonde Yorkies, Piggy Lou and Oscar, to dart out. “Otherwise, I’d say let’s get comfortable.”

She kicks off her black patent Repetto flats in the hallway, effortless and relaxed, cradling a dog with the rest of her day free to unwind and play with her son. Justin’s voice still drifts from inside, and she smiles at the sound—a quiet, private joy. It reminds me of something she said earlier at the park when I asked if she thought the relentless obsession with her and her marriage would ever fade.

“Well, I thought after seven years it would’ve by now, but it hasn’t. You’d think having a kid would make people move on, chill out a little—but no.” She shrugs with a playful Who, me? grin. “So I guess these bitches are going to stay mad.”

Credits:
Hair: James Pecis
Makeup: Hannah Murray
Tailor: Gayane Mnatsakanyan
Produced by AP Studio, Inc.
Set Design: Colin Donahue

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