Here’s a refresher of their history, which began when they met as castmates on The All New Mickey Mouse Club in the early 1990s.

December 1992: Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake met as cast members on The All New Mickey Mouse Club

Timberlake and Spears began their individual tenures on The All New Mickey Mouse Club with the 1993 season and were part of the show through 1994. They first met in December 1992 when they were cast. Timberlake told GQ in 2006, “I was infatuated with her from the moment I saw her.”

In her October memoir, Spears recalls their first kiss, which happened during this time period.

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1998: Spears and Timberlake reunited on tour

The former Mouseketeers reunited in 1998 when Spears opened for Timberlake’s group NSync on the second leg of their NSync in Concert tour, which ran from late 1998 to 1999. Spears was supporting her debut single “ … Baby One More Time” and her upcoming album of the same name, released in January 1999.

1999: Timberlake and Spears began dating, but denied it in the press

Rumours began to swirl that Spears and Timberlake were dating in 1999, but she denied it in one of her first interviews with Rolling Stone. “Overseas they say it’s Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys,” she said of dating rumours about her. “I have no feelings at all.”

January 8, 2001: Spears and Timberlake famously wore matching denim outfits at the American Music Awards

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January 28, 2001: The couple performed together during the Super Bowl halftime show

Timberlake’s band, NSync, co-headlined the show with Aerosmith. After performing some of their hits, the bands brought Spears, Nelly and Mary J. Blige on stage with them to sing the Aerosmith hit “Walk This Way.”

In a September 2001 interview with The Guardian, Spears said that Timberlake lived at her house with her when he was in LA. Ten days before the interview was published, on September 6, 2001, Timberlake watched Spears perform her hit song “I’m A Slave 4 U” at the MTV VMAs, with exotic animals like a tiger during her entrance and a 2-metre albino Burmese python that she draped over her shoulders.

Reflecting on the performance on Instagram in 2021, Spears wrote that she panicked right before going on stage. “Justin saw I could hardly talk so he held my hand and gave me a five minute pep talk, which obviously worked,” she wrote.

February 2, 2002: Spears debunked engagement rumours after Timberlake made a cameo during her Saturday Night Live monologue

During Spears’ opening monologue on the sketch show, Timberlake showed up and made a surprise appearance. While discussing her time on SNL – her second as both musical guest and host – with Katie Couric a few days later, Spears stated that it was “fun” and she was less nervous than she had been the first time. She also denied reports that she and Timberlake were engaged.

February 11, 2002: Timberlake and Spears made one of their last red carpet appearances before their break-up

The couple were photographed holding hands and appearing to be in good spirits at the Los Angeles premiere of Spears’ acting debut in the teen comedy-drama Crossroads. The pair also walked the red carpet at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammys party on February 26, before Spears dropped the bombshell news that they had split up.

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March 25, 2002: Spears confirmed that she and Timberlake had split up after three years together

Spears told reporters that she was “not in an intense relationship with anyone at the moment” during a press conference for Crossroads in London, reported Entertainment Weekly at the time.

Spears herself had previously denied the break-up in an MTV interview in early March, and so had her mum and her publicist just five days before she spoke out at the London press conference, per Entertainment Weekly’s report.

Two days later, when she appeared on the Big Breakfast show, she said: “I’m single … right now.”

November 4, 2002: Timberlake sat down for an interview with Barbara Walters and addressed the split

In the run-up to the release of his first solo album Justified, Timberlake was asked repeatedly about the split. In June, he told People that it had left him with a “broken heart” and five months later he sat down with Barbara Walters for a 20/20 interview.

Timberlake avoided questions about why they had broken up, responding: “Honestly, I mean, you know, we’re not perfect. I don’t judge anybody. It’s just young love … It was a very intense relationship – that’s for sure.”

November 25, 2002: Timberlake released the music video for “Cry Me a River” which led to speculation that Spears had cheated on him

Just a few weeks after his conversation with Walters, Timberlake released the second single “Cry Me a River” from his debut album Justified. Both the song’s lyrics and the music video – which featured a Spears lookalike – reference someone being unfaithful in a relationship.

In his 2018 memoir, Timberlake said that he penned the track in just two hours because he felt “scorned” and “p***ed off”.

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November 13, 2003: Spears spoke to Diane Sawyer about the break-up

“He’s going on television and pretty much said you broke his heart. You did something that caused him so much pain, so much suffering. What did you do?” Sawyer grilled Spears on an episode of Primetime. “He left the impression that you weren’t faithful, that you betrayed the relationship,” Sawyer continued.

Spears responded: “I think everyone has a side of their story to make them feel a certain way. I’m not technically saying he’s wrong, but I’m not technically saying he’s right either.”

May 10, 2004: Spears released the music video for “Everytime” which fans interpreted as a response to “Cry Me a River”

The lyrics to the song include: “I may have made it rain / Please, forgive me / My weakness caused you pain / And this song’s my sorry.”

However, in light of Spears’ revelation that she had an abortion while dating Timberlake, some of her fans have now theorised the song is actually about her regret over terminating the pregnancy.

July 25, 2006: Timberlake blamed Spears for the post-break-up media frenzy

While promoting his 2006 album FutureSex/LoveSounds, Timberlake told GQ that “Cry Me a River” was indeed about Spears and blamed Spears for how she handled the break-up. The new album featured “What Goes Around … Comes Around”, a song about karma that some critics interpreted to be about Spears and a sequel to “Cry Me a River”.

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February 12, 2021: Timberlake issued a public apology to Spears after facing renewed scrutiny in the wake of Framing Britney Spears

Fifteen years after Timberlake’s success with FutureSex/LoveSounds, he issued a public apology to Spears after receiving backlash following the release of The New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears. The docu examined the toll fame and invasive media attention took on Spears’ life and career.

Timberlake also apologised to Janet Jackson for the treatment she faced after he inadvertently exposed Jackson’s breast during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

“I’ve seen the messages, tags, comments and concerns, and I want to respond. 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 for what was right,” Timberlake wrote.

Timberlake went on to decry the music industry, which “sets men, especially white men, up for success”, and blamed his “ignorance” for allowing him to “benefit from others being pulled down”.

June 24, 2021: Timberlake publicly supported Spears during her court battle to end her conservatorship

In a series of follow-up posts, he said: “No one should ever be held against their will … or ever have to ask permission to access everything they’ve worked so hard for.”

“Jess and I send our love and our absolute support to Britney during this time. We hope the courts and her family make this right and let her live however she wants to live,” Timberlake added.

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October 17, 2023: Spears reveals in her memoir that she had an abortion while dating Timberlake

In an excerpt from The Woman In Me, the singer’s upcoming memoir, Spears says she had the abortion because Timberlake wasn’t ready for fatherhood. “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,” Spears writes.

“But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy,” she adds. “He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young.” She continues, “To this day, it’s one of the most agonising things I have ever experienced in my life.”

A representative for Timberlake did not immediately respond to request for comment.