What we know about Hailey Bieber’s Parents

Hailey Bieber has famous parents, though their popularity pales compared to Hailey’s. In truth, few can compete with the attention that Justin Bieber’s wife attracts. Hailey received an avalanche of well wishes from fans and fellow celebrities after announcing that she’d been hospitalized after doctors found a ‘very small blood clot’ in her brain. 

Hailey’s father is an actor and the youngest of the four Baldwin brothers, Stephen Baldwin. He famously played Michael McManus in the 1995 film The Usual Suspects. Bieber’s mom, Kennya Baldwin, is the daughter of legendary Brazilian composer Eumir Deodato. 

Stephen Baldwin and Kennya Deodato met on a bus in New York City when they were 19. They started dating and married in 1990. The couple welcomed their first daughter Alaia three years before Hailey arrived in 1996. 

Hailey grew up fascinated by Stephen and Kennya’s love story. She told Elle that it inspired her to marry early:

“When I was young and I would hear the story of how they met, it sounded like the most romantic thing in the world. You fantasize about having the same thing. I do think it influenced me to want to be married young.”

Stephen introduced Hailey to Justin Bieber at the Today show in 2009. Hailey told Jimmy Fallon that he didn’t know much about Bieber at the time and spent the next day bowling with the pop star and his mom. She explained:

“It was really kinda before anything. I met him and his mom and my dad kind of just connected as friends and we invited them over to our house the next day. So him and his mom just came over for family dinner with me and my family and we went bowling.”

Bieber surprised Hailey with a marriage proposal shortly after the pair started dating. She wanted to say ‘yes’ but wanted to hear her parents’ advice before deciding. 

Hailey revealed on the docuseries Justin Bieber: Seasons that she expected her parents to advise her to think over her decision. However, her parents unreservedly supported her decision. They said: “Honestly, we think that this is meant to be for you and we know that this is what you want, so we trust you.”

A few months after wedding Justin, Hailey described marriage as ‘really effing hard.’ In a late 2021 interview on the In Good Faith podcast hosted by Chelsea and Judah Smith, Hailey revealed that she almost ended her union with Bieber following a challenging first year. She explained:

“I remember I called her a few different times, one particular time when we were in Brooklyn and I was calling her, I was crying, and I was like, ‘I just can’t do it. There’s no way that I’m going to be able to do this if it’s going to be like this forever.’”

Bieber was battling depression at the time. In the docuseries Justin Bieber: Next Chapter, he said that he got ‘really, really suicidal’ at some point. 

Kennya Baldwin advised Hailey to stick it out with Bieber and hope that the dark cloud looming over the couple’s marriage would pass. Hailey said:

“And I just remember she was so calm on the phone and she was like, ‘It’s going to pass, and you’re going to be fine and he’s going to be healthy and we’re here for you.’ I feel like if I didn’t have support, it would’ve been 10 times harder, and it was already the hardest thing in my life at the time.”

Hailey felt like leaving, but she couldn’t abandon a man she loved and cared about. “Imagine abandoning somebody in the middle of the worst time of their life, potentially,” she said. “I’m not that type of a person, So I was going to stick it out no matter what the outcome was going to be.”

Bieber told Elle that the couple’s marriage has its difficulties, but she’s committed to seeing through her vows to Justin. She said: “Do we have little fights and stuff that we have to work through sometimes? Yeah, of course, but it really doesn’t ever feel like work, because I love him so much. I see forever with him.”

Scott Rudd/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

In 2009, Stephen and Kennya lost their house via public auction after defaulting on over $800,000 in mortgage payments. A short while later, Baldwin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

Records showed that Stephen owed 1.2 million in mortgage payments, 1 million in taxes, and around 70,000 in credit card debt. At the time, Stephen was more than $2.3 million in debt. 

In 2012, he faced tax evasion charges but paid the amount before receiving punishment and a criminal record of tax evasion. 

Stephen has improved his net worth by working on several projects in 2021. He appeared in the comedies Church People and Blood Pageant and starred in the crime drama Nova Vita. Hailey also hooked up Kennya with a job at Bare Minerals. 

Kennya and Stephen can also rely on the generosity of their daughter’s super-rich husband if they get it financial trouble, Ok! Magazine reports. A source speaking to the outlet said:

“It’s no secret that her dad, Stephen, is terrible with money. He’s defaulted on mortgages, had run-ins with the IRS and filed for bankruptcy. Justin has so much money, he doesn’t know what to do with it. So he’s happy to help out any way that he can.”

Fans have often referred to Hailey and her mother as twins: despite being several decades older than Hailey, Kennya has maintained flawless skin. 

Hailey told Vogue that Kennya’s secret is a commitment to organic products: “My mother is Brazilian and I grew up in a house where she and my grandmother only used organic products, from hair dyes to cleaning products. I’ve been surrounded by natural and clean beauty my whole life.”

Baldwin has a cordial relationship with her father, though they occasionally clash over differing political views. Stephen publicly supported Donald Trump, causing a rift between him and Hailey. She told The Times:

“I love my father, he’s an amazing dad, but we so strongly disagreed on [the election]. He and my sister strongly disagreed on it. My sister’s husband, like everyone on our side, just doesn’t agree with him. We don’t talk about it now. It’s not worth the argument.”

She affirmed the family wouldn’t let politics affect their relationship. “It was a very big issue for me, but my dad’s still my dad,” Baldwin said. “I would never let politics get in the way of family.”