'I had everything taken away from me': How pop star Madison Beer clawed her way back up from the depths of darkness

At the tender age of four, New York-born Madison Beer nabbed a gig most stage parents can only dream of their child scoring.

It was 2003, and Beer had won a modelling competition. With that, of course, came the glory of gracing the cover of the now-defunct Child magazine.

Though it was for another reason altogether that her face would be blasted onto seemingly every device with an internet connection 10 years later.

Watch the video above.

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Now 25, Beer is a platinum-selling artist with an estimated net worth of $US18 million (approx. $26.7 million), a combined social media following of more than 70 million fans, and a tour about to hit Asia and Australia.

With more than a decade in showbusiness, she's been connected to Justin Bieber, Cody Simpson, Ariana Grande and more – but despite a meteoric skyrocket to notoriety when she was 14, her path to success hasn't been smooth, nor easy.

Here's what to know about pop princess Madison Beer and her remarkable rise.

How did Madison Beer get famous?

It's a tale as old as YouTube – songbird posts covers of hits to the video-sharing platform, someone in a high place sees it, and the rest, as they say, is history.

That was, after all, how Bieber was signed to Usher and Scooter Braun's label at 13 years old, and how emerging pop queen Chappell Roan was discovered by Australian singer and actor Troye Sivan.

In July 2012, with 11 words, Bieber paid it forward and set Beer on a trajectory she's not strayed from.

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Sharing a link of Beer's cover of Etta James' At Last to X (formerly Twitter), Bieber wrote, "Wow. 13 years old! she can sing. great job. #futurestar".

All of a sudden, Beer found herself at the centre of a firestorm, the subject of media coverage worldwide as her name constantly trended.

Within eight months, she had sung with Simpson on his re-released Valentine, and by April 2013, she had been personally signed by then-labelmate Bieber to Island Records, with Bieber's manager Braun taking her on as his client.

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That same year, she released her debut single Melodies, which saw Bieber make a cameo in the music video – but Beer's debut album would take eight more years to be released amid a cloud of drama.

'I had everything taken away from me'

A few years after signing on with Island Records and Braun, Beer parted ways with her former manager, noting how she felt "trapped" by the "Disney queen" image that had been chosen for her.

Her move away from Braun happened around the same time Island Records dropped the then-16-year-old singer, which saw Beer's mother, Tracie Beer, put her career as an interior designer on hold to help her daughter.

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"I had everything taken away from me. I was signed to everything. I had Justin Bieber in my music video. I had TV shows being planned, movies being planned, and then it was all gone," Beer later told Build Series London.

"No more Scooter [Braun], no more Justin, no more labels, not even my lawyers. Everyone left me. Everyone gave up except for my mum. My mum managed me by herself for two years."

At the same time, Beer was the victim of image-based abuse, with nude photographs of the underage singer being leaked online, prompting unrelenting hate aimed at the 16-year-old's way.

It was a dark time for Beer, who later revealed she contemplated taking her own life afterwards. She has been open throughout the years about the toll of fame – as well as sexual abuse – on her mental health, as well as her post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder diagnoses.

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"There was a lot of very lonesome dark points for me that I felt like not many people or anyone could understand," Beer reflected to The Independent. "I felt crazy. And I just made myself feel really horrible."

Over four years, Beer clawed her way up from the depths of darkness, and in 2019, she was signed to Epic Records.

Two years and one debut album (Life Support) later, Beer then released her single Reckless, with which she intended to lead her second album Silence Between Songs.

By August of 2021, however, rumours were swirling that Beer was feuding with her label Epic Records, with Beer writing on X when Reckless hit 50 million streams on Spotify: "n nobody but my fans are the reason for this <3 your support means everything in the world n more".

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Many took that as a swipe from Beer at her label, as days earlier in a series of since-deleted tweets, Beer said "i h8 my l**** so much", with the implication 'label' was the censored word.

"They do literally NOTHING to support me or promote me or ANYTHING," she wrote in another since-deleted tweet.

"i even had to f****n basically fund the entire reckless video myself cuz they didn't believe in it at all i'm over this s***."

Epic Records did not publicly address the allegations, and Beer did not go into further detail.

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Madison Beer is in her own lane

Forging her own path is something Beer, whose The Spinnin Tour hits Australia on August 28 with a show in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, has been passionate about since even before she rebelled against her "Disney queen" image and stepped out from Bieber's shadow.

The songstress made that extremely clear again in 2020, when the then-21-year-old hit back at a social media user who called her a "wannabe Ariana Grande".

"I've openly supported and loved and been a fan of [Grande]'s for years and years and years and years," Beer said on an Instagram Live, noting how although she's usually tight-lipped about the comparisons, derogatory comments that also drew comparisons between Beer and Grande had gotten out of control.

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"I think it's a little sad and hurtful when I see so many people really bullying and harassing me in a lot of ways, taking away the legit-ness of anything I do," she continued, saying how she feels sad when "people pit [them] against each other".

"I just don't think we're to be compared. I think that we're our own people. She's definitely inspired me because she's one of my idols," Beer said, stressing she was her "own person."

"And if she does something that inspires, I think that's her goal. That's what she's always said she's all about. So, I don't know why there would ever be a problem with her positively impacting me or anyone else. I'm no different from any of you guys, you know?"

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

If you or someone you know needs immediate or mental health-related support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.