Justin Bieber calls out media for sharing photos during Lyme disease struggle that make him look ‘sick and unwell’

‘This was a time where I was really unhealthy. I was battling Lyme disease, right?’

Justin Bieber has called out the media for using old pictures of him which he says make him look “sick and unwell”.

The 27-year-old musician has previously pleaded with the media to stop using old photos of him, most recently last November.

In an Instagram Story at the time, Bieber said: “I don’t know what the algorithm is for why certain photos come up. But this is so frustrating considering that I took a lot of time to get healthy and I feel as though people try to legitimately sabotage me.”

He continued: “This was a time where I was really unhealthy. I was battling Lyme disease, right? All of the top photos are me looking disheveled, right? I was obviously going through a tough time, but it’s like, these are the photos that the media tries to run with.”

Now, the musician has shared another post on Instagram Stories expressing his continued upset that older pictures of him are still being used in the press.

He said: “I’m still in shock we are still using those photos of me, I’m telling [you], media wants to pick bad photos of me to make it look like I’m not okay.”

In a follow-up post later on, he shared a collage that included four different photos of himself to illustrate his point.

He went on: “There have been countless photo and [opportunities] for media to pick up other photos. But they still run with this one to make me look sick and unwell, it’s not right.

“I’ve done a lot of photo shoots since then and yeah, they don’t have to put these photos, but they do. I don’t know why. I mean, look at my skin now. There are so many photos they can choose.”

Last January, Bieber revealed that he’d been diagnosed with Lyme disease. Spread to humans from tick bites, symptoms can include headaches, tiredness, muscle and joint pain and loss of energy. Bieber posted a message on Instagram revealing the diagnosis and saying he had experienced “a rough couple of years”.

He wrote: “While a lot of people kept saying Justin Bieber looks like s***, on meth etc they failed to realise I’ve been recently diagnosed with Lyme disease, not only that but had a serious case of chronic mono which affected my skin, brain function, energy, and overall health.”