The Insider.com

Earlier this year, Justin Bieber graduated from high school and explained that the drive to complete his education in the midst of superstardom came because it was important to his mother. Now his mom is opening up about the teen heartthrob's earlier troubled school days.

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"I was not easy," Justin tells NBC News Special Correspondent Ryan Seacrest about getting into trouble during school. His mother, Pattie Mallette, concurs, "No, you were not easy." "I got suspended from school, like every year," Justin added.

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Ryan then asked his mother what steps decided to take to curb the bad behavior. "You know, I had a teacher tell me that -- she's like, 'I have 30 students and one. When he's good, the whole class is good. And when he's bad, the whole class is bad.'  So we pulled him aside, and we said, 'You're a leader.'  And he said, 'I'm a leader.'

You can see the more from the interview on the Today show and NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams this Thursday, September 13. 

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