Britney Spears ‘apologises’ to Justin Timberlake for memoir revelations

Britney Spears has apologised to ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake “for some of the things I wrote” in her 2023 memoir The Woman in Me.

The “Toxic” hitmaker, 42, said she is “deeply sorry” for “offending any of the people I genuinely care about” while praising Timberlake’s new single “Selfish” that was released on 25 January.

In her memoir, Spears made a series of revelations about her three-year relationship with the 42-year-old pop star, including opening up about her decision to have an abortion because Timberlake “definitely wasn’t happy” that she was pregnant.

She also described the media fallout from Timberlake’s 2002 music video for his break-up anthem “Cry Me a River” depicted her as a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy”.

The video, released in the aftermath of their relationship ending, featured a woman with blonde hair and fuelled rumours that he and Spears had broken up because she cheated on him.

“I wanna apologise for some of the things I wrote about in my book,” Spears captioned an Instagram post, shared on Sunday (28 January). “If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about, I am deeply sorry.”

Her post included a video of Timberlake during a recent appearance on American comedian Jimmy Fallon’s eponymous show.

The singer joined Fallon and US hip-hop band The Roots to perform a medley of his greatest hits, including “Señorita” and “Sexy Back” during last Friday’s episode.

According to screenshots of Spears’s Instagram profile that is currently set to private, Spears’s message read: “I also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Selfish’.

“It is soo good and how come every time I see Justin and Jimmy together I laugh so hard???”

Spears affirmed that “Sanctified”, the second single from Timberlake’s forthcoming studio album, “is wow too”.

The Grammy winner’s anecdotes about Timberlake in her book sparked a major backlash against him on social media, as the NSYNC singer appeared to turn off the comments on his Instagram posts for a short while after the memoir was released.

A source told Page Six that the NSYNC member made the decision to turn the comments off because of the “hateful, disgusting things people were saying” on his page.

Timberlake’s representatives did not return The Independent’s request for comment at the time.

He is currently gearing up for the release of his first studio album in five years, with the project titled Everything I Thought It Was.

Reacting to Spears’s apology to Timberlake, some of her fans quipped “the first month of 2024 has truly been crazy” while others praised her as a “kind” and “generous” person, in comments on X (formerly Twitter).

“Britney being real and sweet as always!” one comment read. “Apologising and then fangirling over JT’s ‘Selfish’? Total queen move.”

Another person wrote: “Honestly this is so sweet of her tbh, love my queen for taking the high road”.