Justin Timberlake, 42, apparently broke up with Britney Spears, 41, in a text message that included just two words, according to Page Six. Director Chris Applebaum spoke with the outlet about the moment the breakup happened and how it left the pop singer in tears while they were filming the music video for her song “Overprotected: The Dark Child Remix” in 2002. After explaining that he and Britney were working together on the two-day shoot, he said she suddenly went missing for about 20-30 minutes, which was a “long time” because it costs “20 grand to sit around.”
Chris eventually found her in her trailer sitting down with her eye makeup smudged. She reportedly held up her Motorola flip phone to him and said, “I can’t believe it. Look it. This happened.” He then read a text from Justin that read, “It’s over!!!”
Chris further explained that Justin’s message came after he was trying to get a hold of her all day because he was “pissed” about her cheating on him with choreographer Wade Robson, which she admitted to in her new memoir, The Woman in Me. After reading the text, Britney’s longtime assistant and friend, Felicia Culotta, apparently comforted her by putting her arm around her shoulder.
Although Britney was hesitant to finish filming the music video, Chris encouraged her by saying, “If you don’t have it in you, I totally understand … but if you want to go out there and finish this last set-up in the rain, you can show him that he just made the biggest f*cking mistake of his life.”
Britney apparently liked the idea. “You know that? That’s a good idea,” she said, according to Chris. “I’m going to show him that he blew the best thing he ever had.” Chris said she then went on to shoot the rain scene with more “conviction,” as if she were “on a mission.”
In addition to Chris’ comments, Britney wrote about the breakup in her memoir and explained she felt “comatose” as she flew home to Louisiana shortly after it happened. She also said Justin was “happily running around Hollywood” and expressed how she didn’t like his follow up song, “Cry Me a River,” which was reportedly about their breakup and how she did him wrong. The “…Baby One More Time” crooner shared that she thought he painted her as a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy” in the lyrics and music video, which included a woman who looked like her.