Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears had a three-year romance (Picture: Denise Truscello/WireImage)
Justin Timberlake allegedly dumped Britney Spears via a very brief, two-word text while she was on the set of a music video, ending their three-year-relationship.
The two pop stars, now 42 and 41 respectively, dated as youngsters after meeting as children while on the Mickey Mouse Club, before breaking up in 2002.
With Britney’s hotly anticipated memoir The Woman In Me set to hit bookshelves on Tuesday, many excerpts have already shed light on their romance – including the revelation that she had a ‘secret’ abortion at home after falling pregnant with the NSYNC star.
Elsewhere, the Toxic singer reportedly confirmed the rumours of her infidelity that swirled at the time of them calling it quits, revealing she had kissed choreographer Wade Robson during a night out.
But she has also reportedly claimed that Justin cheated on her too with another celebrity, who she didn’t wish to name because they now have a family, and she didn’t want to embarrass them.
Now, PageSix has said that Britney was broken up with by Justin via an abrupt text message while filming the music video for Overprotected: The Dark Child remix in Los Angeles in February 2002.
The couple split in 2002, with it now claimed Justin dumped Britney via a two-word text (Picture: Getty)
That’s according to the music video’s director, Chris Applebaum.
Applebaum told the outlet that the then-20-year-old was ready to ‘power through’ the two-day shoot’s rigorous dance requirements and – as the ‘biggest star in the world’ – was ‘everything I wanted her to be and then more’.
However, the director, who has also worked with the likes of Rihanna and Miley Cyrus, recalled that Britney went missing for between 20 and 40 minutes on the second day of filming, and he found her sitting on the floor of her trailer crying.
She then reportedly showed Applebaum a text from Justin, which allegedly simply read: ‘It’s over!!!’
Toxic chart-topper Brit was working on the set of a music video at the time, according to its director (Picture: Sipa/Rex/Shutterstock)
Applebaum claimed Justin had been trying to reach her all day while she was busy working, mainly because he was allegedly ‘p*ssed’ at her cheating.
The director then said he told a distraught Britney: ‘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**king mistake of his life.’
She 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.’
In an extract obtained by People Magazine, the former couple had a ‘conflicted’ discussion about whether to terminate the star’s pregnancy during their relationship.
Chris Applebaum with Britney, who he said he encouraged to make realise that Justin had ‘blown the best thing he ever had’ (Picture: Chris Applebaum/Instagram)
‘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,’ she is thought to have penned.
‘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.’
The star’s memoir has dropped multiple bombshells, including the fact that she had an abortion after falling pregnant by Justin (Picture: Araldo Di Crollalanza/Rex/Shutterstock)
She is also said to have written that ‘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’.
Britney is also thought to have described the decision as ‘one of the most agonising things I have ever experienced in my life’.
Elsewhere in her book, which is said to have leaked in Mexico after it seemingly accidentally went on sale there almost a full week ahead of its October 24 release date, the Stronger singer also explained why she ‘loves’ posting naked pictures and clips of herself to Instagram.
She acknowledged that people might find her Instagram posts puzzling but shared that she gets ‘a lot of joy’ from posing for – and taking – her own photos.
She also said it was the way she could ‘feel sexy’ after decades in the spotlight with other people snapping her picture.
She has also explained to fans why she likes to post nude photos on her Instagram (Picture: Britney Spears/Instagram)
‘I know that a lot of people don’t understand why I love taking pictures of myself naked or in new dresses,’ the Toxic chart-topper wrote in an extract from the book, according to The New York Times.
‘But I think if they’d been photographed by other people thousands of times, prodded and posed for other people’s approval, they’d understand that I get a lot of joy from posing the way I feel sexy and taking my own picture,’ she added.
Metro.co.uk has contacted reps for Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Chris Applebaum for comment.
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The Oops!…I Did It Again singer was on set shooting a music video at the time, it’s been claimed.