Britney Spears has alleged that her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake used her name for fame via an Instagram post, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake dated during the early 2000s and were one of the well-publicised couples but their three-year long relationship ended in 2002. Soon, Justin Timberlake released his hit track “Cry Me A River” which insinuated that Britney Spears cheated on him. In addition to featuring a lookalike of Britney in the music video, Timberlake used lyrics to throw accusations at her, singing, “You don’t have to say what you did/ I already know, I found out from him.” On Billboard Hot 100, “Cry Me A River” charted at number 3 and is one of the most successful songs of Justin’s career and in 2006 he made another track called “What Goes Around….Comes Around” which is based on cheating leading to the downfall of a relationship. Britney was put under the media microscope and Timberlake further worsened the situation by making obscene remarks in interviews, when asked whether he had “oral intercourse” with her, he replied with, “I did it. I’m dirty”.
Justin, whose career thrived in the 2000s, is accused of using Britney’s name to further his popularity. In February, he apologised in an Instagram post to Spears adding he had “benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism”. Spears has seldom talked about her ex but on 29th March, she specifically called out Justin in a now-deleted post on Instagram, writing, “I had a call last night from Jesus and you know what he said??? Dear child …your mom had a serving with her book at the exact time when you needed her most …all for WHAT??? FAME and ATTENTION. Your ex did the same thing …he served with his first album using your name claiming you did him dirty!!!”
Britney also denounced her mother Lynne Spears for using her name to sell her memoir titled “Through the Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World”. This is the first time Spears has directly criticised Justin for using her as a tool to advance his music career although in 2011 she called the music video a “desperate attempt” in an interview with the Rolling Stone, telling, “He called me up and asked me if it was ok. He called me up and wanted to supposedly get back together or whatever, but behind it was, ‘And by the way, you’re in a video that’s coming out.’ That kind of got slipped in. ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal.’ “
She continued, “So the record label called and said, ‘If you want to change this, you can.’ I had the power to say no to the video. But I didn’t, because I thought, hey, it’s your video. Then it came out, and I said, ‘I should’ve freakin’ said no to this shit!’…And I said, ‘Why did you do this?’ He goes, ‘Well, I got a controversial video.’ So he got what he wanted. I think it looks like such a desperate attempt, personally. But that was a great way to sell the record. Smart guy.”
In her post, Britney also denounced her sister Jamie Lynn Spears for writing a memoir titled “Things I should Have Said”, it was published after singer’s thirteen-year conservatorship was terminated, writing, “Then your blood, one of the hardest times in your life and guess what your sister does….a book too. All for what??? Knowing doing a book is the last thing you would ever do…well because you ran away from drama and created a dream world for yourself.” Jamie Lynn described her sister as paranoid, earratic and spiraling in her memoir and faced swift backlash for it.
