Celebrity

Britney Spears says she had an abortion while dating Justin Timberlake: 'He didn't want to be a father'

In her new memoir, the pop star writes, "If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it."

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Published on October 17, 2023 03:48PM EDT

Britney Spears is opening up about her relationship with Justin Timberlake, writing in her new memoir that she became pregnant with the NSYNC star's baby two decades ago but had an abortion.

In an excerpt from The Woman in Me (out Oct. 24) published by PEOPLE, the Grammy-winning pop star, 41, writes that she underwent the procedure because Timberlake, 42, wasn't ready to become a father.

The pregnancy "was a surprise, but for me, it wasn't a tragedy," Spears writes. "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."

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake at the premiere of her movie 'Crossroads' in 2002. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Timberlake, she says, had a different viewpoint. "Justin definitely wasn't happy about the pregnancy," Spears writes. "He said we weren't ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young."

Spears and Timberlake were in their late teens and early 20s when they dated from 1999 until 2002. Spears maintains in the book, "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."

The "Stronger" singer describes the experience as "one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life."

A representative for Timberlake did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment Tuesday.

Spears would go on to welcome sons Sean, 18, and Jayden, 17, with her ex-husband Kevin Federline. Timberlake, who married actress Jessica Biel in 2012, is father to sons Silas, 8, and Phineas, 2.

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