Between 1999 and 2002, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were the celebrity couple to beat, with the two just 18 years old and at the peak of their careers when they first got together.
But after their split, things immediately soured as Justin sparked speculation that their relationship had fallen apart because Britney had cheated on him.
Just months after the breakup, Justin released his second solo single, “Cry Me A River,” which fueled the public’s belief that she had been unfaithful — especially after he cast a Britney lookalike to star in the music video.
Justin continued to make crude and degrading comments about Britney, and would often make jokes at her expense during interviews.
During a now-infamous appearance on the Star and Buc Morning Show, Justin was bluntly asked: “Did you fuck Britney Spears?” to which he gleefully shouted: “OK, I did it!”
But the invasive questions didn’t stop there, and Justin was all too keen to play along as the hosts then asked if he’d had “oral intercourse” with his famous ex. Justin laughed as he replied: “I did it, I’m dirty.”
This pattern continued for years after his and Britney’s split, but when the New York Times released their Framing Britney Spears documentary in 2021 that highlighted how problematic Justin’s behavior had been, he issued a brief apology.
In a statement that was posted to Instagram, Justin acknowledged that he’d “benefited from a system that condones misogyny.”
Until recently, Britney had barely acknowledged her ex’s treatment of her, but in March of last year she accused Justin of using her name for “fame and attention” before claiming that she “did him dirty” in an Instagram post that she later deleted.
But Britney’s upcoming memoir, The Woman In Me, has already shared a lot more details about her relationship with Justin in preview excerpts that have been published online.
While the book will not be released until next week, these previews have revealed that Justin cheated on her “a couple of times” during their relationship — including with another celebrity that Britney refuses to name as the other woman in question is now married with a family and she doesn’t want to embarrass her.
In even more shocking news, Britney also shares that she had an abortion while dating Justin because he “didn’t want to be a father.” Per People, Britney writes in her memoir that while the pregnancy was a “surprise” to her, it was not a “tragedy” — but Justin “definitely wasn’t happy” about it.
Britney goes on to say that the abortion remains “one of the most agonizing things” that she has ever experienced in her life and that if it’d been up to her alone then she never would have gone through with it.
Suffice to say, this extra context to Britney and Justin’s relationship left fans even more horrified by the way that Justin treated her after their split.
In fact, the singer’s past actions are currently facing more scrutiny than ever, with one person summarizing: “Britney Spears had an abortion and Justin Timberlake reaction to their break up is to exploit her sexual experiences publicly knowing very well how the world would treat her while she had to carry this huge secret and pain for years.”
Justin has not publicly responded to any of these recent reports, but a source told Entertainment Tonight that he is “focusing on his own family and trying not to concern himself with Britney’s memoir.”
If you didn’t know, Justin has been married to actor Jessica Biel since 2012, and they share two children together.
The source added: “In recent years, Justin has tried to be supportive of Britney from a distance. They dated so long ago, but he still has respect for her. Justin and Jessica just want everyone to grow and evolve instead of continuing to bring up the past."
However, some have theorized that Justin isn’t as unbothered by Britney’s memoir as is being claimed, with the singer accused of using online bots to defend him amid the backlash.
While it's unclear whether Justin is behind the apparent bots, or if they were organized by someone else entirely, people noticed that multiple suspicious-looking online accounts have tweeted the exact same thing, verbatim, in his defense.
Responding to criticism of Justin amid the abortion discourse, the repeated tweet reads: “Two consenting adults made a joint decision what was best for them at that period in their lives, I see no issue.”
Sharing a screenshot of this spammed message from the various accounts, someone wrote: “It appears like Justin Timberlake is using bots to defend himself on Twitter.”
Discussing this claim on a Reddit forum, one person described the clues that a tweet has come from a bot to another user by explaining: “It's the fact that so many different accounts are making the exact same comment. People can agree with each other, and there might be a lot of similar phrasing, but word for word or close to it, is a giveaway that these accounts were programmed to make a specific comment.”
Referring to Justin directly, someone else wrote: “omg I kept seeing the same thing said over and over again, it was so weird. This makes so much sense now.”
Another asked: “Always surprised (well, not really) at the arrogance of this tactic - do you think people are stupid and won’t notice these fake looking accounts all tweeting the exact same thing?”
While somebody else commented: “It’s been a trend among several celebrities for a while, but it’s so poorly executed that anyone can identify them as bots. It’s so lame!”
Other celebs to have been accused of using bots to defend themselves online this year include Jonah Hill and Joe Jonas, with Johnny Depp also alleged to have utilized bots during his and Amber Heard’s 2022 trial.
