After Michelle Obama revealed she would pull Justin Bieber in tight and be a presence in his life if he were her son, a source close The Biebs' actual mom Pattie Mallette revealed how she is dealing with her child amid all of the singer's recent drama.

Mallette remains visible in her son's life, but she is not trying to overstep, since he is going to be 20 in two weeks. To some degree, she has to let him be an adult.

"As any mom of an adult child, Pattie is holding him close and talking to him about everything, but she can't make his decisions for him," the insider told E!

She is not naive but she can only do so much.

The source continued, "As any caring mother would be, Pattie is genuinely concerned for Justin, and she has said in many interviews before that she doesn't have her head in the clouds and keeps in very close touch with Justin. She talks with him almost every day, which is likely more than any mom and a 19-year-old son...and she is in the public eye dealing with all of this."

Mama Bear Biebs is aware that people will be critical of her no matter how she handles things. She's damned if she does or doesn't. The insider said, "If she is with Justin, she is accused of endorsing or enabling him, yet if they find out she is not with him, they accuse her for not being with her own child in a time like this."

Even so, mother and son have a close relationship. "He knows where she stands on the decisions he's making in his life," the source claimed. "He knows what she is proud of and what she has serious discussions with him about." She won't make excuses for bad behavior but she won't turn on him or sell him down the river by being overly critical in the media, either.

In essence, Mallette's challenges are the same as any other mother of a young adult. Hers just happens to be one of the most famous teens alive.

"Those close to her know from Pattie, that it's always challenging as a parent to raise your child in the way you know to be right, letting them grow as they need when they become adults and have strangers share their opinion in unfounded, often hateful ways," the insider, who sounds like a PR person speaking on their behalf, said. "It would be hard to imagine that any parent wouldn't feel the same love, concern and responsibility as Pattie does in regard to her son's well-being. Pattie and [his dad] Jeremy both know that they are responsible before God and are focusing on their son's well-being in private."

Jeremy Bieber has also been criticized for being too much like a bro and a BFF and not enough like a father figure to his son.

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