Justin Bieber wanted to ‘cool things down’ with Sofia Richie

Justin Bieber called things off with Sofia Richie because he wanted to "cool things down".

The 22-year-old pop megastar reportedly recently split from Sofia, 18, after just a month of dating, but sources are now saying that the pair were "never officially together", and that the ‘Love Yourself’ hitmaker decided to put an end to their fling because it was getting too "hot and heavy".

A source told E! Online: "They were never officially together, but more casual hanging out and having fun. It was super hot and heavy, and because Justin doesn’t want a relationship right now, he wanted to cool things down. It wasn’t an intentional cool-off, it just sort of happened on its own."

The news of the ‘Sorry’ musician’s decision to call things off comes just days after Sofia – who is the daughter of music legend Lionel Richie – opened up about their "special relationship".

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."

The pair were first thrust into the spotlight when the ‘What Do You Mean?’ singer threatened to shut down his Instagram account if people didn’t stop sending Sofia hate.

He wrote: "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)"

This then led to a feud with ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez, 24, who claimed he should stop posting pictures of Sophia if they couldn’t "handle the hate".

She replied: "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)."