Justin Bieber Is on the Fast Track to Hermitville

Memories… (Photo: Getty Images)

Celebrities: so delicate, so misunderstood. They want your faith, your acceptance, and of course, your paycheck — but your selfies? Pssh, nope!

Hot off his barefoot stroll through Boston’s Public Garden, Justin Bieber took to Instagram to announce to his 67.6 million followers that he’ll no longer be stopping to take photos with fans. “If you happen to see me out somewhere know that I’m not going to take a picture I’m done taking pictures,” he wrote. “It has gotten to the point that people won’t even say hi to me or recognize me as a human, I feel like a zoo animal, and I wanna be able to keep my sanity.”

A zoo animal, hmm? Maybe JB had more empathy for his dearly departed monkey friend, Mally, than we’d realized.

Several hours later, after being called out by a heckler — who told him, “I’m sure it’s annoying not being able to live a ‘normal’ life, but normal isn’t what you signed up for” — Bieber further explained his decision:

OMG, doesn’t he realize that cameraphones are autographs of the 21st century? Guess not.

Anyway. Bieber’s selfie ban comes about a week after comedian Amy Schumer took a similar stance, saying her decision was made after a confrontational fan tried to force her to take a photo and “scared the s***” out of her.

It was also just seven weeks ago that Bieber told the world he was done doing fan meet-and-greets, saying, “I enjoy meeting such incredible people but I end up feeling so drained and filled with so much of other people’s spiritual energy that I end up so drained and unhappy… Want to make people smile and happy but not at my expense and I always leave feeling mentally and emotionally exhausted to the point of depression.”

Dr. Deborah Serani, a licensed New York City psychologist who specializes in cases of depression and trauma, shared her wisdom on Bieber’s selfie backlash. “Depression can create feelings of helplessness, so by taking control of specific things in one’s life, a person can ease depressive symptoms,” she told Yahoo Style. “For a celebrity, limiting certain public experiences — though upsetting to fans — may be necessary to restore a sense of well-being.”

All jokes aside, it does seem like Bieber’s dealing with some inner turmoil that’s clearly been magnified by his lack of privacy and the constant circus surrounding him. And while he may have “signed up” to be an insanely famous and successful celeb, technically, it was his parents and the other adults around him who actually put him in that spotlight. We sometimes forget that Biebsy was all of 12 years old when he first got famous. He’s also still only 22. Maybe he’ll eventually ease up on his anti-selfie rule — but for now, it seems the only reliable place you’ll be able to score a photograph of Justin Bieber is on a sidewalk near Central Park.

(Side note: I now fully understand why my mother wouldn’t let me audition for Zoom. Not that I’ve forgiven her.)

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.