Britney Spears detailed her 2007 “comeback” performance at the 2007 MTV Music Video Awards in her memoir, The Woman in Me — and revealed that she ran into Justin Timberlake shortly before taking the stage.
In the book, Spears, 41, recalled that she bumped into Timberlake, 42, backstage at The Palms in Las Vegas, an insider exclusively confirmed to Us Weekly. It had “been a while” since Spears had seen her ex-boyfriend, whom she dated from 1999 to 2002.
While Spears was attempting to revive her career following a series of highly publicized personal struggles, Timberlake was “at the top of his game in every way.” The year prior, he’d released the album FutureSex/LoveSounds, which included his megahit “SexyBack.” He also performed at the VMAs that year, taking the stage during a finale medley with “Give It to Me” collaborators Nelly Furtado and Timbaland.
According to the insider, Spears recalled Timberlake having a lot of “swagger” when she saw him at the VMAs, while she was incredibly nervous about her performance. Timberlake, meanwhile, looked “so light” during the show, “flirting with girls in the audience” as he sang.
Spears’ performance opened the ceremony with a rendition of “Gimme More,” the first single from her fifth album, Blackout. The source confirmed to Us that Spears described the performance as “far” from her best in her memoir but was also surprised by the vitriol directed at her — both that night and in the days after the awards show.
After Spears finished singing, Sarah Silverman delivered a monologue that included several jokes at the pop star’s expense. Silverman, 52, infamously described Spears’ children — Preston, now 18, and Jayden, now 17 — as “the most adorable mistakes you will ever see.” Silverman also said Spears had “already accomplished everything she’s ever going to accomplish in her life” at age 25.
More than a decade later, Silverman addressed the backlash to her comments following the release of the documentary Framing Britney Spears.
“I was known then 4 roasts. MTV asked me to mini-roast Britney after her big performance,” Silverman tweeted in February 2021, adding that she didn’t actually see Spears singing because she was backstage. “Had no idea she didn’t kill. Unfortunate. Art changes over yrs as we know more & the world changes.”
Silverman didn’t apologize but did express remorse for the jokes, writing, “I wish I could delete it but I can’t.”
Timberlake, for his part, has not publicly responded to the claims in Spears’ book. Earlier this week, an insider told Us that he’s hoping to move on from the drama.
“Justin will always be supportive of Britney and all of her endeavors, but he’s trying to distance himself from her upcoming book,” the source explained. “It’s not something he’s focusing too much on in terms of anything she might discuss when it comes to their former relationship.”
The Woman in Me hits shelves on Tuesday, October 24.
