Justin Timberlake allegedly ended his three-year relationship with Britney Spears by sending her a brief text message, it has been claimed.
Timberlake, 42, and Spears, 41, dated each other for three years before they broke up in 2002 amid speculation the “Baby One More Time” hitmaker cheated on him.
In her forthcoming memoir The Woman in Me – which accidentally went on sale in Mexico nearly one week before its release date – Spears confirmed the infidelity rumours, revealing she had kissed her choreographer Wade Robson.
The Grammy-winner also shared that she was “devastated” when Timberlake broke up with her over text, in an excerpt from the book obtained by The New York Times.
Now, PageSix has reported the NSYNC frontman sent Spears a two-word breakup text message while she was filming the music video for “Overprotected: The Dark Child” in Los Angeles in 2002, quoting its director Chris Applebaum.
Reflecting on his first impression of Spears, then at the height of her stardom, Applebaum told the publication he was thrilled when he discovered the Grammy-winner was just as he’d imagined “and then more”.
On the second day of filming, Applebaum continued, he discovered Spears had gone missing from the set – only to find her in tears, sitting cross-legged on the floor of her trailer. She then reportedly showed Applebaum a text message from Timberlake which allegedly read: “It’s over!!!”
The Independent has contacted representatives for Spears, Timberlake, and Applebaum for comment.
Spears and Timberlake dated from 1998 until 2002— (Getty Images)
When she expressed her hestitation to continue filming that day, Applebaum reportedly told her: “If you don’t have it in you, I totally understand … but if you want to go out there and finish this last set-up in the rain, you can show him that he just made the biggest f***ing mistake of his life.”
Spears reportedly replied: “You know that? That’s a good idea. I’m going to show him that he blew the best thing he ever had.”
Elsewhere in her memoir, which covers everything from Spears’s childhood and early relationships to the 13-year conservatorship controlled by her father, Spears opened up about getting an abortion while she was in a relationship with Timberlake.
She wrote: “It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated.
Spears married Iranian-American fitness instructor Sam Asghari in 2022— (Getty Images)
“But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young,” Spears continued.
Since their breakup, the American musicians have gone their separate ways. Timberlake married Jessica Biel in 2012, and the couple have two sons: Silas, eight, and Phineas, two. Meanwhile, Spears married Kevin Federline in 2004 before filing for divorce in 2007. She shares two sons – Sean 18, and Jayden, 17 – with her ex-husband.
Spears married Iranian-American fitness instructor Sam Asghari in June 2022, shortly after her conservatorship ended. Their marriage ended in August this year, when Asghari, 29, filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences
