- Hailey Bieber appeared on
Dixie D'Amelio 's YouTube talk show. - They spoke about some of their most invasive
paparazzi experiences. - Bieber said one time a male photographer laid on the ground and took pictures of her from below.
Hailey Bieber spoke about her experiences with the paparazzi when she appeared on TikTok star Dixie D'Amelio's YouTube talk show on April 11. Bieber, 24, is a model and the daughter of Stephen Baldwin. She married musician Justin Bieber in 2018, and recently launched her own YouTube channel.
D'Amelio, who has 50 million followers on TikTok, told Bieber she herself had been caught in some "very embarrassing, bad situations" with paparazzi. She added that she'd seen paparazzi videos of Bieber at inopportune moments too, such as when she and Justin lost their keys after going out for lunch.
"Paparazzi is such an interesting thing to me because I really don't understand it, and I think that it's a really, really weird, invasive thing," Bieber said. "What I understand is people wanting to capture clothing, or trying to get these outfit shots. To me, that is understandable because that's good for the people who designed the clothes and for our stylists."
But she added it can sometimes be "invasive and disrespectful." For example, the night before appearing on the show, she said a paparazzi had stuck a camera under a curtain while he was lying on the floor as she was leaving a venue with her husband, Justin Bieber.
"I was wearing a really really short skirt," she said. "So when we got in the car I was like, I feel like that is a tricky angle because I'm concerned they would have shot up my skirt, because what else are you going to see?"
Bieber said Justin confronted the photographer about it, and he denied he would do such a thing. But she said she was skeptical as paparazzi had photographed her underwear twice in the past.
Upskirting - taking a photograph up a woman's skirt without her consent - is illegal in the UK, but only in some US states. In California, where Bieber lives, upskirting can fall under disorderly conduct laws and can mean a year jail sentence or a fine of up to $2,000.
"I think when you're a woman and there's men that are taking these photos, it feels really really invasive and it feels disrespectful and it's not OK," Bieber said.
She added there is always at least one person waiting outside of her house, but "it does come with the territory" of being famous.
D'Amelio said it was a whole new world with the YouTube paparazzi that have boomed in popularity in the past few years. She said she's had media training in which she was told to ignore them, but she doesn't like to in case it comes across as rude.
One time, a woman behind a camera asked D'Amelio if she would "go virgin to the alter," she said.
"It's very frustrating because I try to be so nice to everyone because if it's put on the internet they're gonna be like, 'oh she's horrible, why isn't she talking to them,'" she said. "But it's like, no-one sees both sides of it."
Bieber told D'Amelio that she "doesn't owe anybody anything," except for her friends and family. She added the paparazzi used to ask her if she was pregnant.
"A grown man is asking me at 19 if I'm pregnant," she said. "It is weird. And it should not ever be nonchalant, like 'Oh it's fine, I'm OK with it,' because it's not OK."
Watch the full interview below.