Justin Bieber splits from Sofia Richie

Justin Bieber and Sofia Richie have reportedly split up.

The ‘Baby’ hitmaker and the 18-year-old model – who is the daughter of Lionel Richie – have decided to go their separate ways before things get too serious, TMZ reports.

The news comes only days after Sofia opened up about her "special relationship" with Justin.

She said: "We have a special relationship. Justin is very easy to talk to, and that’s hard to find with people in Los Angeles."

Meanwhile, Sofia was dragged into a spat between Justin and his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez when the 22-year-old singer threatened to quit Instagram if people didn’t stop sending Sofia hate.

He wrote at the time: "I’m gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don’t stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn’t be so mean to people that I like (sic)"

But Selena quickly fired back: "If you can’t handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol – it should be special between you two only. Don’t be mad at your fans. They love you (sic)."

After seeing her comments, Justin got embroiled in a war of words with Selena, where he accused her of using him.

He wrote: "It’s funny to see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way. Sad. All love. I’m not one for anyone receiving hate. Hope u all can be kind to my friends and each other. And yes I love my beliebers (sic)."

However, things seemed to eventually cool down between the pair as Selena later admitted that "what she said was selfish and pointless".