Britney Spears has revealed that she had an abortion because Justin Timberlake, whom she was dating at the time, thought she should, People reported. In her memoir, The Woman in Me, which comes out on October 24, Britney wrote about her pregnancy and the decision to terminate it, explaining that, "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," she wrote in the memoir. Britney and Justin dated from 1999 to 2002. Britney discovered she was pregnant in 2000, TMZ reported.
At the time she learned that she was pregnant, both of them would've been around 19 years old. TMZ reported that Britney did not necessarily want an abortion because she was raised to believe it was wrong.
According to Page Six, Britney was "surprised" when she learned that she was pregnant, but she did not see it as a "tragedy." She wrote that she was in love with Justin at the time and had imagined that they could start a family together someday.
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“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 wrote in her memoir, according to Page Six.
Britney felt "conflicted" but she and Justin reportedly talked it out and agreed that she should have an abortion. She later had two kids with then-husband Kevin Federline.
"I’m sure people will hate me for this, but I agreed not to have the baby," she wrote in the memoir, according to Us Weekly. "I don’t know if that was the right decision. 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.”
Sources told Page Six that Justin has been concerned about what Britney might say about him in her memoir. Fans have criticized the way he acted after breaking up with Britney in 2002.
His “Cry Me A River” video in particular suggested that Britney Spears had cheated on him. Britney was later interrogated about it, which caused her to cry. In his apology, posted on Instagram in 2021, Justin started out by being vague but later specifically stated that he wanted to apologize to Britney.
"I’ve seen the messages, tags, comments, and concerns and I want to respond," he wrote. "I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right. 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 apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed. I also feel compelled to respond, in part, because everyone involved deserves better and most importantly, because this is a larger conversation that I wholeheartedly want to be part of and grow from,” he continued at the time. He has not publicly acknowledged the news about Britney's abortion.
Around the same time, a source told US Weekly that Britney "does not hold a grudge." Although she was heartbroken at the time, "she feels that they were young and in love and both did stupid things when they were together."
Britney's memoir comes about two years after the end of Britney's court-ordered conservatorship. "Over the past 15 years or even at the start of my career, I sat back while people spoke about me and told my story for me. After getting out of my conservatorship, I was finally free to tell my story without consequences from the people in charge of my life," she told People in an interview.
