Western Bulldogs defender Mua Laloifi was left stunned last Thursday morning after discovering pop megastar Justin Bieber had followed her on Instagram, joining a list that includes Coco Gauff and Beyoncé.
“I was like ‘surely not, surely not’. After my 10 minutes of shock, I woke up my partner and was like ‘Justin Bieber just followed me!’ She couldn’t believe it,” Laloifi told AFL.com.au.
“I thought I was dreaming. My partner looked at his following on Insta and was like, ‘there’s Coco Gauff and Beyoncé, and you!’”
From ACL rehab to Bieber DMs
With 294 million followers and fewer than 900 followings of his own, Bieber’s social media nod is no small thing. Laloifi has a theory, but even she admits it’s a long shot.
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“The only thing I can draw on is that the club posted a video of a training session, and they asked me what a good soundtrack for the video would be. I suggested ‘Go Baby’ by Justin Bieber, and then I reposted the video on my Instagram story and tagged him,” she said.
“He’d get so many millions of people tagging him. I did not expect a cheeky follow.”
The 31-year-old, currently rehabbing from an ACL injury, has already put her new social connection to use, inviting Bieber to an AFLW game via DM.
Not only did the Canadian star see it, he responded.
“I was like, I’m gonna shoot my shot here and send him a message that if he and his family ever have a holiday in Australia and they want to see an AFLW game to let us know,” Laloifi said.
“And he hearted it! He liked my message.”