Justin Timberlake Seemingly Responds to Britney Spears’ Apology
In this case, Justin Timberlake thinks some things are indeed better left unsaid.
In the wake of fresh drama with ex Britney Spears, the 43-year-old made his thoughts on apologies crystal clear during a recent concert.
“I’d like to take this opportunity,” he said onstage per footage shared to social media, “to apologize to absolutely f–king nobody.”
The Daily Mail reported Justin then proceeded to perform his 2002 song “Cry Me A River,” which has long been speculated to be about his breakup with the “Toxic” singer.
Though Britney and Justin’s relationship history—and public drama—goes back more than two decades, it was recently brought back to the forefront of pop culture with the release of Britney’s memoir The Woman in Me in October. So much so, that when Justin released a new single, “Selfish,” on Jan. 25, Britney fans rushed to stream her 2011 song of the same name so that it would surpass the *NSYNC alum’s on the charts (which it did).
But just days later, the Crossroads actress spoke to both her memoir and Justin’s new song—seemingly trying to clear the air.
“I wanna apologize for some of the things I wrote about in my book,” the 42-year-old wrote in a since-deleted Jan. 29 Instagram post alongside a video of her ex performing with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots on The Tonight Show. “If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about I am deeply sorry.”
She continued, “I also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Selfish.’ It is soo good and how come every time I see Justin and Jimmy together I laugh so hard???”
NBC / Contributor & Alberto E. Rodriguez / Staff (Getty)
Among the elements of their relationship reexamined in The Woman in Me, Britney revealed she had an abortion while dating Justin and that the “Sexy Back” singer broke up with her in a text message. She further revisited the infamous 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer and clarified that the extent of her cheating on Justin only ever included one make out session with Wade Robson.
Other than his recent onstage comments, Justin—who shares kids Silas, 8, and Phineas, 2, with wife Jessica Biel—has not addressed the memoir publicly, though a source told E! News ahead of the book’s release that Justin was “feeling great” and that he “has been working on music and loving what he’s been making.”
And while he’s remained largely close-lipped about the recent drama, he did publicly apologize to Britney back in 2021.
“I am deeply sorry for the time 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 at the time, after the docuseries Framing Britney Spears once again put their history in the spotlight. “I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism.”
For more of the bombshells dropped in The Woman in Me, keep reading.
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