Britney Spears’ memoir, The Woman in Me, is finally available to purchase, and many of her anecdotes are currently being processed by the public. Because of the major revelations in Spears’ book, other notable stars have been making headlines as well, including her ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake. The pop singer dished quite a bit on her relationship with Timberlake, who allegedly broke up with her while she was shooting a music video. That particular story has also been circulating again. And because of that, the director of the video Spears was filming at the time spoke out about the supposed text message Timberlake sent her to end the romance.
The pop singer was reportedly in the midst of shooting the music video for “Overprotected: The Darkchild Remix” when she apparently received the breakup text from her beau. Britney Spears herself recalled being “comatose” after receiving the message from the former *NSYNC member at the time. Her feelings of unhappiness were also conveyed by the video director, Chris Applebaum, who sat down with ABC News to discuss his recollections of the emotional moment. He recalled finding Spears in her trailer and seeing that she was far from ready to continue her work on the production:
I walk into her trailer, and Britney’s not dressed for the next scene. She’s not ready, her hair and makeup isn’t ready. … She’s still in like a Juicy Couture sweatsuit, and I could immediately tell something was wrong. I asked her if everything was OK, and she said, ‘No, things are not OK, because, look.’ And she held out her flip phone, and I saw this text, which said, “It’s over,” which was from her boyfriend at the time, Justin Timberlake.
Based on his comments, Chris Applebaum couldn’t deny that his star was distraught amid the shoot and, unfortunately, he was in a tight spot. Time was starting to slip, and the crew’s shooting schedule was being delayed as a result of what transpired. Applebaum knew that everything could go south if he didn’t stay in control and, with that, he opted to make an appeal to the “Oops!... I Did It Again” performer:
It seemed like that was the end of the video shoot, and I acknowledged that with everybody. But [I said to Britney], on the other hand, if you feel like you wanna get out there and show him that he just lost the best thing that he ever had, let’s do it. Ten or fifteen minutes later, she came out, and she was on fire. … This was the Britney that everybody knows and loves.
Kudos to the director for getting a hold of the situation and not only empathizing with the singer but also encouraging her in a way. His method of approaching the matter clearly worked, as the footage came out very well. You can check out the video for “Overprotected: The Darkchild Remix” down below:
Since the release of the memoir, Justin Timberlake has been taking a lot of heat from the public due to alleged details of his relationship with Britney Spears as well as the aftermath. One of the biggest pieces of information from the book is the claim that Spears had an abortion after she and Timberlake became pregnant in the early aughts. In the book, it was also revealed that Spears and Timberlake had a Janet Jackson connection years before the Super Bowl debacle. Ahead of the autobiography’s release, it was rumored that the notion of it hitting shelves was “eating at” Timberlake. While that claim hasn’t been verified, the “Cry Me a River” singer has been laying low as of late.
The backlash he’s been facing has become so extreme that he shut off his Instagram comments but, as a result, fans have been bombarding those of his wife, Jessica Biel. She’s reportedly been lending to support to him and, reportedly, his fellow *NSYNC alums feel for him as well. Bandmate Lance Bass weighed in personally, saying that Britney Spears deserves to tell her story but that fans should exercise forgiveness as she did. It remains to be seen whether her devotees will do that but, at the very least, Spears has suggested that she’s moved on from the breakup and more.
