Justin Timberlake Reveals He Wrote ‘Cry Me A River’ Two Hours After His Split From Britney Spears

By Rachel West. Published: 30 Oct 2018 5:38 PM

Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears - Getty Images

We all know Justin Timberlake’s break-up ballad “Cry Me A River” was about his ex, Britney Spears, but now the pop superstar is revealing he wrote the song in the immediate hours after their 2002 split.

In his new book chronicling his rise to fame, Hindsight: And All The Things I Can’t See In Front Of Me, Timberlake admits he channelled his feelings about the “Toxic” singer into the emotional song following their high-profile split in the wake of rumours she cheated on him.

“I’ve been scorned. I’ve been pissed off. The feelings I had were so strong I had to write it,” he writes in the memoir without directly mentioning Spears by name. “I translated my feelings into a form where people could listen and hopefully relate to it. People heard me and they understood it because we’ve all been there.”

But his memoir isn’t all about heartbreak. Timberlake, 37, also opens up about his six-year marriage to Jessica Biel and the couple’s 3-year-old son, Silas.

“We’ve had a lot of unforgettable times,” he says of Biel, whom he began dating in 2007. “She’s been a huge influence on my life, and I have such admiration for her, especially seeing her as a mother now.”

“Having a child has been the pinnacle of my life,” he writes, revealing that he “had such intense feelings – nothing that I’ve ever experienced can compare to it,” upon seeing his son for the first time.

“The things I have learned from being a father have been profound. I’m just coming into my own and I’m at an interesting crossroads in my life. It’s terrifying… invigorating… more meaningful than anything I’ve ever been a part of,” Timberlake explains. “Kids teach you more than you teach them,” he writes, adding that Silas is “my pure joy.”

Also chronicled in the book is his 2001 performance at the SARStock benefit concert in Toronto where concertgoers threw bottles of water and urine at him after Mick Jagger invited him on stage to sing “Miss You” with The Rolling Stones. In response to the bottle-throwing, Keith Richards walked to the front of the stage and banged on his chest like a gorilla, putting an end to the bottle-tossing.

“If there is a God, she has a sense of humour,” he writes of the moment.