Model and influencer Hailey Bieber kicked off the year with a romantic dedication to Justin Bieber, unaware that it would end up reigniting one of the biggest controversies in pop culture: his past toxic relationship with singer Selena Gomez. The young businesswoman posted a photo of herself passionately kissing her current husband, captioning it “10 New Years together and counting.” That romantic post was part of the final reconciliation attempt of “Jelena,” a relationship that definitively ended in March of that same year. The scandal erupted when, months later, Justin reconnected with Hailey and proposed to her.
In this way, Hailey's romantic greeting, which was a clear dig at Selena, became the first major controversy of 2026. However, Justin Bieber resumed his relationship with Gomez in October of the following year. Indeed, multiple international sources confirmed that Justin and Selena rang in 2018 together at an exclusive resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with their friends. The detail that caught attention was that she accompanied the text with a red heart and a “fuck you” finger emoji, as if bracing for the wave of criticism she would receive.
Hailey's controversial claim that this is her tenth year with Justin is not entirely false, but it is not entirely true either. Some users suggest that the model is trying to rewrite her controversial love story with her latest post. As confirmed by the Argentine News Agency, the image shared by the founder of Rhode corresponds to New Year's 2016, shortly after the Canadian had ended his relationship with Selena.
