What you need to know
Major throwback alert.
Hailey Bieber was the latest Instagram star to join the social media trend of 2016, and included a PDA-filled photo with her now-husband Justin Bieber in a slide featuring throwbacks from 10 years ago.
In the sixth photo, the model, 29, and the “Swag” singer, 31, are seen making out in front of a sunset by the sea, hugging each other with their eyes closed. It had a tropical atmosphere with palm trees.
Hailey Bieber/Instagram
Hailey captioned the post, “Just being there was great.”
2016 was a pivotal year for the couple’s relationship, which dates back to 2009 when the pop stars met for the first time on the Today show. They sparked romance rumors in 2014.
Justin told GQ in a 2016 cover story that he was hesitant to get into an exclusive relationship for fear of hurting Hailey if they started dating.
“What would Hailey do if she were the woman I married? If I rush into something and damage her, there will definitely be damage,” he said at the time. “It’s really hard to heal a wound like that. It’s so hard… I just don’t want to hurt her.”
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Hailey Bieber/Instagram
Hailey admitted to E! News that the duo is “not a special couple. He’s going on tour.” “Relationships are already complicated at this age, but it’s between me and him so I don’t want to talk about it too much.”
According to Hailey, the pair broke up in a “very dramatic” way shortly after Justin appeared on the cover of GQ.
“Something negative happened and we still need to talk and get over it,” she later told Vogue about the breakup. “‘Stall’ is probably not the right word. It was more like a very dramatic excommunication. There were times when I would walk into a room and he would walk out.”
Hailey Bieber/Instagram
Eventually, the two got back together in 2018. Justin proposed in July of the same year, and they were married in September of the same year. Their first child, son Jack Bruce Bieber, was born in August 2024.
They supported each other in the years that followed. Justin recently praised Hailey for his seventh studio album, SWAG, and a source told PEOPLE that his son Jack “formed the heart” of the project.
The Grammy-winning singer also references his wife in several songs, including “Go Baby,” where he sings, “That’s my baby, she’s iconic/iPhone case and lip gloss.”
Elsewhere in Hailey’s take on 2016 trends on Instagram, you’ll also find throwback photos with model friends Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Kylie Jenner. She also added various selfies of herself, including one with pink hair.
Hailey Bieber/Instagram
The 2016 trend occurred around the time the clocks struck midnight on New Year’s Day. Social media users labeled 2026 as the “new 2016” online, sharing nostalgic photos and videos of themselves from 10 years ago, including filters.
Nostalgia is at the heart of the new trend, with participants often expressing a longing for what many describe as simpler times. In fact, there are 1.7 million posts tagged with the hashtag #2016 on TikTok.
