Britney Spears Says 'I Knew' Justin Timberlake 'Cheated on Me': 'He'd Slept Around'
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Spears writes about her relationship with Timberlake — whom she dated from 1999 until 2002 — in her new memoir 'The Woman in Me,' out now
Britney Spears is reflecting on her relationship with Justin Timberlake.
The pop star was 17 when she began dating the then-18-year-old *NSYNC singer in 1999, and they were together until 2002.
In her new memoir The Woman in Me, the “Piece of Me” singer, 41, claims she was aware that Timberlake, 42, was cheating on her, but chose not to say anything, as the relationship was new and she was head over heels for the star.
“There were a couple of times during our relationship when I knew Justin had cheated on me. Especially because I was so infatuated and so in love, I let it go, even though the tabloids seemed determined to rub my face in it,” Spears writes. “When NSYNC went to London in 2000, photographers caught him with one of the girls from All Saints in a car. But I never said anything. At the time we’d only been together for a year.”
Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
Britney Spears and Justin TimberlakeSpears, who also reveals in her book that she had an abortion while pregnant with Timberlake’s child, says that another time, she and the singer were in Las Vegas when he apparently strayed once again.
“Another time, we were in Vegas, and one of my dancers who’d been hanging out with him told me he’d gestured toward a girl and said, ‘Yeah, man, I hit that last night,’” she writes. “I don’t want to say who he was talking about because she’s actually very popular and she’s married with kids now. I don’t want her to feel bad.”
The pop star says her friend was “shocked” by his words, and “believed Justin was only saying it because he was high and felt like bragging.”
“There were rumors about him with various dancers and groupies,” she writes. “I let it all go, but clearly, he’d slept around. It was one of those things where you know but you just don’t say anything.”
A rep for Timberlake did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty
Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in January 2001Spears and Timberlake first met in the early 1990s on the set of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club, and later dated for three years before going their separate ways in 2002. He went on to marry actress Jessica Biel in 2012, with whom he shares two sons.
The pair’s early aughts split was tense, and in 2002, Timberlake hinted that Spears had cheated on him with the breakup track “Cry Me a River,” in which he cast a lookalike of the singer as his cheating ex in a music video. (In her memoir, Spears confirms she kissed Robson while she was dating Timberlake.)
The video set off a firestorm of tabloid headlines against Spears, and Timberlake fueled the flames with an interview four years later that criticized the “Gimme More” singer.
“When we initially parted ways I felt like she had a couple of opportunities to just sort of stick up for me, and she didn’t. Which is fine. But at that time, you know, I fought back,” he told GQ in 2006. “I used my mind. I came up with a song.”
In February 2021, though, he shared a lengthy Instagram post apologizing for the way he treated Spears and Janet Jackson, writing: “I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism. I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.”
In spite of their past differences, the “Mirrors” singer expressed support for Spears in 2021 amid her fight to end her 13-year conservatorship, which was eventually terminated that November..
“We should all be supporting Britney at this time. Regardless of our past, good and bad, and no matter how long ago it was… what’s happening to her is just not right,” he wrote on X at the time. “No woman should ever be restricted from making decisions about her own body. No one should EVER be held against their will… or ever have to ask permission to access everything they’ve worked so hard for.”
Spears released her much-anticipated memoir on Tuesday, through Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
"It is finally time for me to raise my voice and speak out, and my fans deserve to hear it directly from me,” Spears told PEOPLE in an email interview for last week's exclusive cover story. “No more conspiracy, no more lies — just me owning my past, present and future.”
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