Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archives via Getty ImagesJustin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin have either made their coupledom official or they're just having an amazing time messing with fans, but given their PDA-filled vacation, E! News is looking back at their growing friendship and how it has developed over the years.
Hailey and the Biebs have been close friends for a long time; so close, in fact, that Hailey told us in December 2014 that she and the "What Do You Mean?" singer are just friends. After being spotted together on multiple occasions, Hailey explained that she felt compelled to confirm their platonic relationship. "I've known him since I was so young—since I was like 13—and we've just been good friends over the years," the 19-year-old said. "We have just stayed close and there's nothing more to it than that."
Saying they've "stayed close" would be putting it lightly. Prior to her admission of friendship, Hailey and Justin were spotted having lunch at Spago in Beverly Hills and sitting courtside at an L.A. Clippers game. The stars were also photographed shopping at Target in L.A. before spending over an hour playing arcade games at Family Amusement Corporation.
The pop crooner also confirmed their friendship on Instagram a few days later. "People are crazy. I'm super single and this is my good friend u would know otherwise," Justin wrote along with a cute photo of him and Baldwin smiling while sitting in the back of a car together.
But only a few weeks after her interview they would be seen on a dinner and breakfast date. The day after Christmas 2014, Hailey and Justin were seen dining at Mr. Chow's in NYC and then frequenting a New Jersey diner the next morning. The late-night and early morning date caused Beliebers to speculate a sleepover, but Hailey denied the claims on Twitter.
"Glad I got such a good night sleep last night, at MY own home, alone," she wrote.
But the rumors won't cease to plague these two. In February 2015 Hailey insisted she was Biebs' friend and was only trying to help him get through a tough time. "We're just friends. I've known him for a very long time, since I was about 13," Baldwin told us at the amFAR Gala in NYC.
"He's just going through a time in his life where he's transitioning in a really positive way and he needs good people around him. And I'm trying to be a good friend and be there for him and support him."
Stephen Baldwin's daughter is more than aware of the assumptions people make when girls and boys are seen together. "But any male in his place, any girl that's around him they automatically assume," Alec Baldwin's niece continued. "That's the world we live in. I'm just trying to be there for him and support him as a friend."
But fast forward to this year's holiday season and these two are giving fans a lot of reason to think they've transitioned from friends to more than besties. Bieber even wrote, "I'm super single and this is my good friend u would know otherwise," in that one photo, so is the picture of him kissing Hailey on the lips a way of telling fans now they know? Justin has been posting photos nonstop from their St. Barts and Anguilla vacation, and in many of them Hailey and the "Baby" singer pack on the PDA.
Do you think these two have taken the relationship plunge? Sound off in the comments.