Britney Spears shared further details about the aftermath of the abortion she had during her relationship with Justin Timberlake.
In her upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me, Spears, 41, recalled the way Timberlake, 42, attempted to comfort her after she terminated her pregnancy. Spears wrote that Timberlake “thought maybe music would help,” an insider exclusively confirmed to Us Weekly. As Spears lay “crying and sobbing” on the bathroom floor, Timberlake strummed his guitar.
Earlier this week, Spears revealed in an excerpt from the book that she got pregnant during her romance with Timberlake, which lasted from 1999 to 2002. “But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy,” Spears wrote in the extract, which was published by People on Tuesday, October 17. “He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young.”
Spears went on to say that she decided to terminate the pregnancy because her then-boyfriend wasn’t ready to become a parent.
“I’m sure people will hate me for this, but I agreed not to have the baby,” she wrote. “I don’t know if that was the right decision. If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”
Spears went on to welcome sons Preston, 18, and Sean, 17, with ex-husband Kevin Federline, whom she divorced in 2007.
Timberlake and Spears were 17 and 18, respectively, when they began dating after meeting as kids on the set of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club. After the pair’s 2002 split, Timberlake hinted on his single “Cry Me a River” that Spears had been unfaithful during their relationship.
Following the release of the 2021 documentary Framing Britney Spears, Timberlake publicly apologized for his alleged role in the negative narrative that surrounded Spears in the years following their split.
“I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right,” he wrote in a statement shared via Instagram in February 2021. “The industry is flawed. It sets men, especially white men, up for success. It’s designed this way.”
Timberlake specifically noted that he “failed” Spears, adding that he still has “respect” for her. “As a man in a privileged position I have to be vocal about this,” he continued. “Because of my ignorance, I didn’t recognize it for all that it was while it was happening in my own life but I do not want to ever benefit from others being pulled down again. I can do better and I will do better.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Timberlake’s team for comment.
The Woman in Me hits shelves on Tuesday, October 24.
