Britney Spears appears to apologise to Justin Timberlake over book allegations

By Yasmin RufoBBC News

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake dated in their late teens

Britney Spears has appeared to apologise to her ex Justin Timberlake for comments in her autobiography.

He had told her to have an abortion as he "didn't want to be a father", she alleged in The Woman in Me, and cheated on her with "another celebrity".

But on Monday, she posted a clip of him singing his songs with Jimmy Fallon on NBC's Saturday Night Live programme.

And alongside the Instagram post, she wrote: "I wanna apologise for some of the things I wrote about in my book."

Spears wrote: "If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about, I am deeply sorry.

"I also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake's new song, Selfish.

"It is so good - and how come every time I see Justin and Jimmy together, I laugh so hard?"

Spears released a song in 2011 with the same title, with some Britney fans campaigning to get her Selfish track into the charts higher than Timberlake's new single, according to US media.

Spears apologised for offending people she "genuinely cares about"

Spears dated the NSync singer from 1999, when she was aged 17, to 2002.

And after becoming pregnant, she had been unsure whether having an abortion was the right decision, the Baby One More Time singer wrote in her autobiography, released in October 2023.

"If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it," she wrote.

"And yet Justin was so sure that he didn't want to be a father."

The allegations sparked a social-media backlash - and Timberlake appeared to turn off comments on his Instagram for a while.

He has not publicly responded - but in 2021, wrote on Instagram: "I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism.

"I specifically want to apologise to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed."

Spears has been married three times and has two children with her second husband, dancer Kevin Federline.

Also in her book, the Toxic singer documented her controversial conservatorship.

Calling herself a "child robot", she claimed her father told her he had assumed legal control of her personal and professional affairs, by saying: "I am Britney Spears now."

And last week, following rumours she was planning a return to the studio, Spears said she would "never return to the music industry".

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