Justin and Hailey Bieber chose to sit out this year’s Met Gala. Their absence isn’t too surprising, given that Justin has been publicly coping with a tough time. After he sparked media and fan concern in April by posting photos of himself crying, a source explained to Entertainment Tonight, “Justin has been facing some difficulties lately. He has been having a hard time and hasn’t been feeling like his usual self.”

“Hailey has been doing her best to be there for Justin, but it is upsetting for her to see him struggle,” the source continued. “They are doing their best to make things work and be supportive of each other. They are committed to doing whatever it takes to make things better.”

Justin has a history of skipping the Met Gala. While he attended the event with Hailey in 2021, she went by herself in 2022. The couple took the 2023 Met Gala off.

Hailey spoke to ELLE in March 2021 about their love story. When they started dating again in June 2018, Justin was “at a stage of his life where he could make decisions like, ‘I’m done with girls, and I’m done with fooling around, and I’m done with partying,’” Hailey said. “We were friends first for a really long time before there was anything romantic. But we always knew that we were aligned on what we wanted in our future. We had talked about wanting to be married young and having a family young and building a life, even before we knew we wanted to be with each other.”