Overprotected 1

Justin On Britney: 'I Was Infatuated'
Timberlake Tells GQ Of Past Love And Respect For Cameron

NEW YORK, July 19, 2006

(CBS) Justin Timberlake opens up about his messy break-up with pop star Britney Spears in the new issue of GQ magazine, which hits stands July 25.

He tells the magazine that back in 2002 when the couple initially parted ways, "I felt like she had a couple of opportunities to just sort of stick up for me, and she didn't. Which is fine. But at that time, you know, I fought back, and that's the way I fought back. I used my mind. I came up with a song."

That song was Timberlake's solo hit, "Cry Me A River." Timberlake adds that he dealt with the split by seeking "the affections of many young females."

The singer, who is gearing up for the release of his new album "FutureSex/LoveSounds" on Sept. 12, says that fell head over heels for Spears back when they met as Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club when he was 11.

"I was in love with her from the start," the singer tells writer Lisa DePaulo. "I was infatuated with her from the moment I saw her."

Though he admits that he doesn't talk to the domesticated singer now (he calls the relationship "a distant thing") he wishes her well. "I want to see her win," he says. "I don't think you can ever count somebody like her out. Because she may appear one way, but she's very clever."

Spears, 24, who is pregnant with her second child with husband Kevin Federline, recently appeared naked on the cover of Bazaar magazine.

In the interview, Timberlake was more guarded about his latest relationship with actress Cameron Diaz, 33, who he's been dating for three years. He labels this relationship as more "adult."

"For me, this time around, it's been important to stay, at least as much as I can, out of the limelight," he tells GQ. "And I think that's made it more enriching. I've received so much more from it by keeping it just between the two people it's supposed to be between. Some people, especially here, are happy to offer themselves up in that way. But I come from a small town where, like, to give someone privacy means to give them respect."

He thinks their relationship is still going strong because: "There's no pretense about anything. It's just a sort of coming together of two people."

Timberlake, who lives alone in Los Angeles with his two dogs, Buckley and Brennan, doesn't seem to be planning on shacking up with her anytime soon. "I have my own house. It's very important. Healthy. Don't you ever need your own space?"

"SexyBack," the first single off Timberlake's new album was released July 7. The song is available at Timberlake's MySpace page. He describes the new album's sound as "so progressive" and so far the buzz surrounding it has been good.

Timberlake's solo debut "Justified" went multi-platinum.

"It's very different from the last album. Like, the last album, so much of what was happening in my life was fed into the album. And people would psychoanalyze the songs," he says. "But I didn't care, because it meant they were actually listening to the songs. It sent everybody into this guessing game, which — I can't lie — was sort of fun for me."

The former boy band heartthrob also has several films due for release, including "Alpha Dog," directed by Nick Cassevetes, "Black Snake Moan" co-starring Christina Ricci and Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales," and a voice role in next year's "Shrek The Third."

Timberlake tells GQ that the biggest mistake of his career thus far was his 2004 Super Bowl performance in which he scandalously ripped off Janet Jackson's top and her breast was exposed on national television. As for the reported hook up between the two, he says, "I'm not gonna go too far into that."

But Timberlake did say that his break-up with Spears topped the Super Bowl debacle. "Especially when you loved that person half your life," he says.

Lisa DePaulo's interview with Justin Timberlake will appear in the August issue of GQ magazine.

PapRoach123

I'm beginning to like this guy now, heh.

Overprotected 1

Here's more of the interview, specifically about Britney...

"Britney grew up on my living room floor," says Lynn [Justin's mother]. "We were family, and I still love her to death. They were together ten or eleven years and had, from day one, that chemistry between them. She's a sweet girl. And I just hate what she's going through now."

Justin would very much like to get past the Britney era, but that decade of his life isn't so easily erased. The breakup, when Justin was all of 21, made him tabloid fodder for months and was brutally hard on him, even as it made him more and more famous. As life-defining moments go, it was bigger than the Super Bowl. "Especially when you loved that person half your life," he says.

"I don't think his breakup with her was any different than anybody's breakup with their first love," says his mother. "It's usually not as publicized."

He says it's now "a distant thing" and that, contrary to reports, he doesn't talk to Britney (and never told her to lose the husband), but he does feel badly when he sees what the press is putting her through. "I wish her well, and I want to see her win," he says. "I don't think you can ever count somebody like her out. Because she may appear one way, but she's very clever," he says cryptically. He refuses to gloat over the fact that his career took off like a shot and she ended up crying through her mascara to Matt Lauer. "I mean, at the end of the day, it's like, be a man. You know? Some shit happened, it wasn't good, but be a man," he says.

Lenghthen

He may only be saying that for publicity for his album. If so, shame on him.

Green Ranger

at the end is he telling Britney to be a man about it? LOL

and hes a cunt..

ElectronicWorm

You don't hear anything about him and then suddenly when an album is near to it's releasedate he starts saying all these things trying to get attention.
It's nice he wishes britney well and all, but that was 4 years ago. Why involve britney?

Leonida

Exactly what I was thinking Liz.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

Hmm why did she talk about him in Bazaar. It goes both ways.

ElectronicWorm

No that is not true if you ask me. All britney said was:
And she points out, with some pride, “Justin [Timberlake] worked on that.” Is she still close with her onetime boyfriend of three years? “You know what? I haven’t spoken to him in two years, it’s crazy – him and Christina [Aguilera] and all the Mickey Mouse Club people.”

There is nothing about their relationship or whatever. She only says that he worked on the album of Kevin and that she haven't spoken to him. That's like nothing compared to what Justin all had to say. And again, it might be positive and it's nice what he said. But get over it. Don't use your albumpromotion over Britney. Cuz basicly, that's how I see it.

PapRoach123

It's not as black and white as that, Lizzy. Him saying things to get attention is a bad assumption.

For starters, every freakin music artist begins to "suddenly" appear in interviews on TV shows, in magazines, etc, when they release new albums. Justin said he is a private person, so that means he's not going to do interviews when he has no professional reason to.

And on the topic of involving Britney... Britney IS involved. She's been part of his life for a long time. They've been lovers, everything. She is intertwined with his past, HIS life. Her presence in his past and every event that happened there has enriched him with such knowledge and experiences that it has served as some of the building blocks for who he is today. When he talks about himself and about his life, she will appear in the conversation. You don't just keep that part aside as if it never happened. It doesn't work that way.

Also, if you do it right, after years of time your perspective begins to change and you start to form new opinions. The event might have been long ago, but the way he feels about it now is most likely rather new.

So, if you want artists to stop talking about themselves in interviews, no artist will ever promote their albums anymore. "Yeah, I made some new songs. Cool ain't it? Yeah. It was hard work, so go buy my album. Will do! Bye!"

That's boring. Nobody wants to see that. You want to have a good old fashioned interview where the viewers get to hear things they haven't heard before. Where the artist gives a little something of himself to the fans. It's the least they could do, in my opinion.

Either way, I'm not buying his album, not even if he put his entire life story in my email box, heh. So promotion? Nah.