Where was Justin Bieber’s father when popstar, 15, went ‘full buck crazy’ with Diddy – after walking out on his son as a baby?

Thrust into the limelight at an early age, Justin Bieber was the perfect example of a child star who needed his parents to step up and guide him.

While his mother Pattie Mallette was by his side, she’s admitted she found the task of signing Justin’s legal documents as his career took off and making decisions for him ‘daunting’ and felt out of her depth.

Meanwhile, Pattie – who gave birth to her son at a home for teenager mothers a month before her 19th birthday – has described in detail her tumultuous relationship with his father, Jeremy, who was not exactly the doting dad Justin needed during his critical years.

Jeremy has been described as a ‘deadbeat father’ who only resurfaced when Justin became successful, although Pattie has defended her former partner, insisting that he had ‘worked at becoming a better father’ before their son found fame.

She admits, however, that Jeremy struggled with substance abuse issues, was in jail the day Justin was born, and was in and out of his life as he grew up after walking out when he was a baby, taking all their furniture.

Jeremy’s parenting decisions have been thrust into the limelight again this week, after MailOnline revealed that he runs an Instagram account that posts bikini pictures of the star’s six-year-old sister – which has attracted thousands of male followers and disturbing comments.

It’s perhaps no wonder, then, that fans have questioned if Justin’s trajectory would have been different if he’d had a consistent guiding hand from his father.

When Justin signed his first record deal in 2008, he was left potentially vulnerable to some of the industry’s most dangerous and predatory stars – with his friendship with P Diddy now under renewed scruntiny amid allegations of sex trafficking and racketeering offenses against the rapper.

Just a year after being signed to Island Records, a 15-year-old Justin spent a now-infamous 48-hour period with Diddy seemingly unsupervised at the rapper’s home, where they went ‘full buck crazy’.

Fans have now questioned why his parents didn’t intervene. However, when Jeremy was in contact with his son, he too led him astray.

In 2014, Jeremy guided Justin, then 19, as he drag raced a Lamborghini in a residential street while allegedly under the influence of drink and drugs, which ended with the teen star being arrested.

Justin Bieber, 30, needed his parents more than ever at the time he was thrust into the spotlight as a teenager (pictured in 2011 with his mum Pattie, dad Jeremy and half sister Jazmyn)

Two years later, fans were disgusted when Jeremy bragged about his son’s penis size on social media when nude photos of Justin leaked.

While most father’s provide for their teenage sons, the roles were reversed in Justin’s household and he became the one to fund Jeremy’s lifestyle, paying Jeremy a ‘$50,000 a month living allowance’, which he blew on boozy bashes.

Despite their history, the popstar has always wanted to have a tight-knit relationship with his father.

He’s spoken about how he became closer to his father than his mother, and maintains a relationship with Jeremy’s children, his half siblings.