Hailey Bieber wants to put the rumors to rest. In a new episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, the model and media personality talks publicly for the first time about her husband Justin’s former relationship with actress and singer Selena Gomez — and reveals the “truth” behind those dating crossover rumors.

Podcast host Alexandra Cooper asks Hailey a range of questions about her experience being married to Justin Bieber, including whether his intense level of fame has impacted her own identity.

Yet, most of the interview spends time unpacking the speculation around the timeline of Hailey’s relationship with Justin, discussing the harassment and bullying Hailey has been subject to before and after their marriage, and whether there is any truth to the narrative that drama exists between Hailey, Justin, and Selena.

“Your husband was in a very public relationship,” said Alexandra, referring to Justin’s past with Selena, though never naming the former Disney star. “People were obsessed with them being together. Were you ever with Justin romantically at the same time as her?”

“No,” Hailey replied almost immediately. “[When we started dating] he was not ever in a relationship, ever, at any point… I can say, period, point blank, I was never with him when he was in a relationship with anybody — that’s the end of it.”

“It’s not my character to mess with someone’s relationship,” continued Hailey. “I would just never do that, I was raised better than that. I’m not interested in doing that and I never was.”

The Rhode beauty founder went on to commend Justin’s decision to make sure the “door” to his and Selena’s relationship was “completely closed” before getting back together with Hailey, calling it  “mature, healthy” and “respectful” to everyone involved.

ICYMI: Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez dated on-and-off for nearly a decade. Their high-profile relationship, nicknamed “Jelena” by fans, was rekindled for the last time in fall 2017 before officially ending in March 2018. As noted by E! News, Selena had reportedly “completely moved on” from JB by May. A month later, in June, Justin was spotted out in public with Hailey.

Justin and Hailey — longtime friends who first sparked dating rumors in 2014 and publicly dated in 2016 — became engaged in July 2018 and officially tied the knot in September of that same year. Though the couple recently celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary, Jelena and dating crossover rumors have still been a point of contention in their marriage.

“I knew it was the right thing for them to close that door. It’s not my relationship, it has nothing to do with me. It closed a chapter, and I think it was the best thing that could have happened for him to move on and be engaged and get married and move on with his life in that way,” Hailey said. “I would never want to get into a relationship and get engaged and be married to them and think in the back of my mind, ‘I wonder if that was really, like, closed for you’… I know for a fact that we were able to get back together was because it was very much completely closed.”

Hailey Bieber acknowledges, however, that this truth might not ever satisfy the supporters of Justin and Selena’s relationship. Since 2017, fans have suggested that Justin was unfaithful to Selena, claiming Hailey “stole” him from the OMITB star, and have continued to send Hailey hateful messages online.

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In 2020, Justin defended his wife during an Instagram Live after a fan urged others to “bombard” Hailey with hateful messages. “This sad excuse of a human just encouraged people on video to literally go after my wife telling people to say that my previous relationship was better [and] so on and so forth,” said Justin. “It is extremely hard to choose the high road when I see people like this try and rally to gather people to bully the person I love the most in this world. It is not right.”

In April 2022, Hailey delivered a message to social media trolls on TikTok: “I’m minding my business. I don’t do anything, I don’t say anything. Leave me alone, please. Enough time has gone by where it’s valid to leave me alone. I beg of you, truly. That’s my only request. Leave me alone. Be miserable somewhere else, please.” Though she never explained what prompted her to make the video, many believed she was addressing hate from Jelena supporters.

“A lot of the hate and the perpetuation comes from like, ‘Oh, you stole him!’ It’s about people knowing the truth, because there’s a truth,” Hailey told Alexandra on Wednesday’s episode of Call Her Daddy. “I don’t want to stir anything up or bring anything up… [Fans] wish he ended up with someone else and that’s fine. You can wish that all you want, but that’s just not the case.”

When asked about a viral moment in 2021 in which Hailey seemed to cry on the Met Gala red carpet after fans began chanting Selena’s name, Hailey clarified that she had something in her eye and couldn’t actually make out what fans were shouting until watching a video of the red carpet after the event. Hailey called the incident “disrespectful,” also asking: “If we have moved on, why can’t you?”

Justin and Hailey Bieber at the 2021 Met Gala

 DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES

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All in all, Hailey says the harassment and bullying she faces from Jelena supporters could never ruin her happiness or joyful moments with her husband. If given the chance to directly address her haters face-to-face, Hailey would deliver a message of respect: “You’re not obligated to like me, but I believe that no matter what, there can always be mutual respect between people, and to me that means, you don’t have to say anything — you don’t have to like me, but you don’t have to say anything either.”

Near the end of the interview, Alexandra asks Hailey whether Justin has ever asked Selena to help put an end to the harassment. “No,” said Hailey. “What I will say is that [Selena] has been in this industry much longer than I have, and maybe there’s something that she knows about, like, it wouldn’t fix anything… I would never expect someone to do that for me. She doesn’t owe me anything. Neither of us owe anybody anything, except respect. I respect her a lot… If that was something that she felt was necessary, then that would be amazing… But I respect her. There’s no drama personally.”

Hailey then went on to reveal that she and Selena have spoken since her marriage to Justin. “It’s all respect. It’s all love,” said Hailey. “If everybody on our side knows what happened and we’re good and we can walk away from it with clarity and respect, then that’s fine.”