All About Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez’s Relationship (and Why There Was So Much Drama Post-Breakup)
The former couple dated on and off from 2010 to 2018.
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber at the 2011 American Music Awards.
- Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber dated on and off from 2009 to 2018.
- The former couple were initially introduced by talent manager Scooter Braun.
- Following their breakup, fans of “Jelena” continued to stir the pot.
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber had the kind of teen love story that Disney Channel dreams are made of. After being introduced by their managers (hers, her mom; his, Scooter Braun) the duo became seemingly inseparable—until, of course, they called it quits.
Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez at the 2011 ESPY Awards.
Fans of “Jelena” will recall that Gomez and Bieber went through several breakups and reconciliations over the course of their eight year-long relationship, and ultimately parted ways for good in March 2018. Shortly thereafter, the “Baby” singer rekindled his romance with Hailey Baldwin, and subsequently proposed in July; Gomez, for her part, developed a friendship with Benny Blanco that turned romantic five years later.
Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco at the 2026 Golden Globes.
Now that both exes are happily married, one might expect the door to be closed on their post-breakup drama. Unfortunately, however, fans of “Jelena” continued to stir the post in the years following their split, with many taking aim at Bieber’s wife Hailey on social media. Keep scrolling for a full rundown of his ill-fated romance with Gomez, and what happened post-split.
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber were introduced by Scooter Braun.
After Bieber revealed that Gomez was his “celebrity crush” during a 2009 radio interview, the duo were introduced by his manager at the time, Scooter Braun, who set up a meeting with Gomez’s momager Mandy Teefey. At the time, the Grammy-nominated singer was in a relationship with Nick Jonas; they later broke up in March 2010.
They were known as “Jelena.”
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber at the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscar Party.Getty Images
Following their meet-cute, Gomez and Bieber went public with their relationship by showing up on the red carpet at the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscar Party. The power couple subsequently became known as “Jelena.” They shared cute PDA courtside at a Lakers game, attended red carpet events together, and jetted off for a couple’s vacation to Hawaii.
“I don’t like hiding,” Gomez told Seventeen in May 2011 after news of their romance broke. “I do like to keep certain things to myself, but at the end of the day, I’m 18, and I’m going to fall in love. I’m going to hang out with people, and I’m going to explore myself, and I’m OK with that.”
That September, Bieber upped the ante by renting out the entire Staples Center in Los Angeles for a romantic movie night with the Wizards of Waverly Place actress, per TMZ. With the 20,000-seat arena all to themselves, the pair enjoyed a candlelit dinner on the court and a private screening of Titanic.
“Romance isn’t dead,” Bieber wrote in a since-deleted post on Twitter, a.k.a. X. “Treat your lady right fellas.”
They broke up (and got back together) several times over the years.
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber at a Los Angeles Lakers game in April 2012.Getty Images
In November 2012, “Jelena” had their first of many breakups to come. After a year-and-a-half of dating, the two split for reasons unknown but appeared to get back together five months later when Bieber posted a series of throwback photos of the couple on Instagram. Two years later, however, the duo split again. Bieber moved on with his now-wife Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin), and Gomez struck up a brief romance with DJ Zedd.
“When stuff would happen, I would lose my freakin’ mind, and she would lose her mind, and we would fight so hard because we were so invested in each other,” Bieber reflected in a 2015 interview with Complex. “Love is a choice. Love is not a feeling.”
They parted ways for good in March 2018.
Romance rumors continued to swirl around the former couple in 2016. In 2017, Bieber and Gomez reconciled (again), but their reunion didn’t last long. Following four months of hockey dates, bike rides, and church services, the Emmy-nominated actress and Bieber went on a break that eventually turned into a permanent breakup in March 2018.
“Selena realized even though he’s made some positive improvements, they just aren’t a perfect match right now,” a source told E! News at the time. Another insider explained that Gomez “decided she is much happier doing her own thing, adding that she “rarely even talks about Justin anymore, and is fully open to dating.”
