With all the controversy surrounding Justin Bieber in the media recently, I found the idea of making him the subject of my column this week a no-brainer.

I had the pleasure, and yes, he was a pleasure, of meeting Justin in June of 2011, when he was at the height of his fame. He was in Nashville, Tenn., for the CMT Awards and my friends and I were bound and determined to meet him.

In the days preceding the awards we thought of every option possible to try and figure out where he would be. We called hotels, car services and we eventually wound up at the airport.

When we got there, a security guard came up and asked us if we were waiting for Justin, and then informed us we had missed him by about five minutes.

He also confided in us that he would be flying back out the next day, after the awards, but he would not tell us when he was leaving or where he was going.

The next day, my friends and I showed up at the airport around 10 a.m. and set up camp. We were the only people around and we were prepared to spend the entire day there, but 30 minutes later Justin showed up.

He was wearing baggy jeans and sunglasses and he had toothpaste in the corners of his mouth.

My friends and I made a pact not to scream and to act as calm and collected as possible, and that is exactly what we did.

Justin came up to us and asked if we wanted pictures or autographs. He came to me first and before I could hand my camera to one of his body guards he snatched it from me and offered to take it himself, selfie style.

Literally, he was one of the absolute nicest celebrities I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

He was completely down-to-earth and could not have been any sweeter to any of the people who approached him. He was so grateful and acted like we were the ones making his day.

Despite his present drama, I like to think that the sweet kid I met nearly three years ago is still in there; he’s just going through a rough time. Cut the kid some slack- no one is perfect.

Column Breanna Sill, Assistant Features Editor