Justin Bieber hinted at marrying Hailey Baldwin in a 2016 interview

It would appear Justin Bieber foreshadowed his plans to marry Hailey Baldwin two years ago!

Over the weekend, after one month of dating, the 24-year-old pop star reportedly popped the question to the 21-year-old model with a huge diamond sparkler in the Bahamas. The two were previously linked in 2016, but reportedly split that year.

But the 'Love Yourself' singer was apparently thinking about his future with Hailey, the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and niece of actor Alec Baldwin, well before then.

Bieber told GQ in a candid 2016 interview that Baldwin, then rumoured to be his girlfriend, was "someone I really love" and thought about if she was the one. But because of his demanding career, he felt the need to protect their relationship by taking it slow, he said.

"I don't want to put anyone in a position where they feel like I'm only theirs, only to be hurt in the end. Right now in my life, I don't want to be held down by anything," he said at the time.

"I already have a lot that I have to commit to. A lot of responsibilities. I don't want to feel like the girl I love is an added responsibility. I know that in the past I've hurt people and said things that I didn't mean to make them happy in the moment. So now I'm just more so looking at the future, making sure I'm not damaging them. What if Hailey ends up being the girl I'm gonna marry, right? If I rush into anything, if I damage her, then it's always gonna be damaged. It's really hard to fix wounds like that. It's so hard. I just don't want to hurt her."

Bieber and Baldwin met as shy teenagers through her father, a hilariously realistic moment we can all relive thanks to a recently resurfaced 2009 video.

While Bieber took to Instagram on July 10 to confirm his happy news in a lengthy post, Hailey's dad, and Justin's parents, Jeremy Bieber and Pattie Mallette, each shared what appeared to be congratulatory messages on social media over the weekend.