Justin Bieber has finally broken his silence on the trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, stating that he ‘is not a victim’ of the rappers sex trafficking crimes. It comes after months of online speculation that Bieber was exploited by Diddy at the beginning of his career.

Diddy is currently on trial for sex-trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied any allegations of sexual abuse.

In September last year, after Diddy was charged with sex trafficking, fans began to unpick Bieber’s close relationship with the rapper during his early fame, jumping to harrowing conclusions that Bieber could’ve been victim to sexual abuse via Diddy as a teenager. Bieber never commented on at the time. Instead, his sometimes-dishevelled public appearance in recent months was interpreted as a response – many assuming his wellbeing has declined since Diddy’s charges were made public.

Now though, a representative for Bieber has denied that he has any allegations against Diddy. ‘Although Justin is not among Sean Combs’ victims, there are individuals who were genuinely harmed by him,’ the rep told TMZ. ‘Shifting focus away from this reality detracts from the justice these victims rightfully deserve.’

TMZ also reported that sources close to Bieber confirm he was never sexually abused by Diddy. Social media sleuths have spent months unearthing old videos as supposed ‘evidence’ of misconduct behind the scenes. One such video was when Bieber and Diddy both appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! back in 2011, and Diddy claimed that Bieber ‘knows better than to be talking about things that he does with Big Brother Puff on national television.’

Bieber spent weekends alone with Diddy as a 15-year-old, posting vlogs of the experience on YouTube, collaborating on music after Bieber was discovered online by music manager Scooter Braun and promoted by fellow singer Usher.

Now 31, Bieber has been open about struggling with fame in the 20 years since his debut, including developing drug and alcohol problems. In a YouTube series called The Dark Season, Bieber says he started doing drugs aged 13, around the time he became famous. What began with smoking heavy cannabis later became abusing alcohol, lean (a mixture of codeine cough syrup, soda and hard candy) and MDMA, as well as taking pills like Xanax and psychedelic mushrooms.

‘People don’t know how serious it got,’ Bieber said. ‘My security were coming into the room at night to check my pulse… it was legitimately crazy scary.’ Bieber actively blames the pressures of early fame on his drug dependency, telling Billboard in 2015, ‘I wouldn’t suggest being a child star. Look at the statistics on how many child stars have crumbled… It’s because it’s f-cked, this lifestyle.’ Braun has been open about his regret at ‘failing’ Bieber as a child star, saying he ‘failed him day after day’ at the height of his addiction. Braun and Bieber severed ties last year.

Recently, Bieber’s wellbeing has been called into question again after former team members of his spoke out to say he’s ‘disintegrating’. ‘He’s lost,’ one recently told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘There’s no one protecting him because there’s no one there willing to say no to him.’

In February, Bieber’s representatives were forced to deny allegations of drug use, saying he’s in the best place in life, parenting his newborn son, Jack, and working on new music. ‘The past year has been very transformative for him,’ a rep said. ‘He ended several close friendships and business relationships that no longer served him.’

And yet, the scrutiny prevails – in large part due to the questions that were raised around Bieber’s early friendship with Diddy. In fact, now many are wondering if Bieber will be called to testify against him given his close proximity to the 55-year-old during the times his alleged crimes took place.

 So, is he? After rumours the Bieber was nervous he may have to go on the stand against Diddy, there’s been no confirmation that he will be called as a witness. During jury selection, potential jurors were given a list of at least 190 names of celebrities and public figures, asked to indicate which names they recognised. There’s been no suggestion that Bieber was on that list, but not all of the names have been publicly revealed.

Names that were revealed include Michael B. Jordan, Kanye West, Mike Myers and Kid Cudi, as well as Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams, actor Lauren London, singer Dawn Richard, singer-producer Dallas Austin and many of Combs’ family members. It’s not known why the jurors were asked about these names or how they could be brought up in the trial, although we do now know that Dawn Richards is expected to testify today.

With that being said, it’s not thought that Bieber will testify against Diddy, but with seven weeks left of the trial, who knows what’s next?