Time For Tough Love: Tired Scooter Braun Says He Might Need To Let Spiraling Justin Bieber 'Fail'
Jan. 29 2014, Published 9:39 a.m. ET
Scooter Braun sounds like he's just about done trying to commandeer the Justin Bieber train (or trainwreck, depending on how you look at it).
The music phenom's longtime manager, speaking with GQ magazine's March issue, opens up about the struggle he's had trying to reign in the singer, whose cracks in the armor have ripped into huge holes in the new year, with a DUI arrest, an entourage full of headaches, and a pending felony investigation in another incident.
"It's the same as being with a kid growing up, as a parent," Braun told the magazine. "My responsibility is to always be there when they fall, to help them back up.
"But at some point I need to let them fail."
After 19-year-old singer's arrest last week in Miami, Braun visited Bieber in Panama, and told him he must decide whether he wants to continue with his career or not.
He said he told Bieber, "Either we quit and let you try and find a normal life or you realize that this is what this is, and we've got to keep fighting.
- Scooter Braun Officially Retires From Music Management After 23 Years: 'The Sacrifices I Was Once Willing to Make I Could No Longer Justify'
- Justin Bieber and Manager Scooter Braun Still Working Together, Pop Star ‘Not Taking Meetings’ For New Rep: Source
- Taylor Swift's Dad Made $15M In Music Catalog Sale To Scooter Braun Despite Singer's Claim She Was 'Blindsided' by Deal
DAILY. BREAKING. CELEBRITY NEWS. ALL FREE.
“We’ve talked that sometimes he doesn’t help himself because he’s so angry about the bad publicity surrounding the incidents, but no one really understands what he’s living, only him.”
Bieber -- whose court arraignment date has been set for Feb. 14, is also said to have received some stern advice from his long-time mentor Usher, who flew to Panama on Saturday to visit the pop heartthrob, currently there with new gal pal Chantel Jeffries, the model who was with him at the time of his arrest last week.