Justin Bieber Will Take Paternity Test
ABC News’ Dean Schabner and Sheila Marikar report:
Justin Bieber will take a paternity test to settle questions about whether he is the father of a 20-year-old California woman’s child, the pop star’s spokesman said.
The 17-year-old singer will take the test when he returns to the United States from Europe, where he is on business, and then he will likely file suit against the woman, according to his representative.
“We’ll vigorously pursue all available legal remedies to protect Justin and to hold those involved with bringing this suit accountable for their actions,” Bieber’s publicist Matt Hiltzik said in a statement to ABCNews.com.
Mariah Yeater filed a paternity suit against Bieber, claiming their tryst in a backstage bathroom at the Staples Center in Los Angeles following a concert in October 2010 resulted in the birth of her son Tristyn Anthony Markhouse Yeater this July.
The threat of a retaliatory lawsuit from Bieber is not be the only legal trouble facing Yeater.
Her very public allegations have placed a spotlight on her checkered past, including a domestic violence charge from an ex-boyfriend whom she earlier accused of fathering the baby she now says is Bieber’s.
Yeater faces a bench trial next month on a misdemeanor battery charge that she slapped her 18-year-old ex-boyfriend last December. The charge could leave her facing six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The Los Angeles Police Department has also not ruled out the possibility they may look into Yeater’s alleged backstage tryst with Bieber as a case of unlawful sex with a minor, since the singer was 16 at the time.
If convicted, the violation carries a one-year jail sentence.