Britney Spears’ heartbreaking TV tears over Justin as she begged host to stop

With their Disney smiles and double-denim dressing, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were the couple of the Millenium.

When the teenagers started dating in 1999, Justin, it was said, was a grounding force for Britney and protected her from the seedy underbelly of the showbiz world.

“Justin had his head screwed on so straight, and he rescued her from that world,” a source told Rolling Stone in 2008.

“He became the great force in her life, but it started a pattern – she began to look for guys to help her get away from the people who control her.”

At the time, she was one of the biggest stars in the world while Justin was a member of NSync, but according to another insider, Britney – who turns 39 today – didn’t care who was the bigger star.

“She wasn’t competitive about attention,” the source said. “She just wanted to be in love with him.”

But it all came crashing down in February 2002 when Britney and Justin parted ways amid rumours she had been unfaithful.

Their split is said to have unfolded backstage at Saturday Night Live, where they were both performing, leaving Britney devastated.

Justin retaliated with his breakout track, Cry Me A River, which featured a Britney look-a-like. They lyrics heavily insinuated that Britney had betrayed him and in a US TV interview, she opened up about his accusations.

“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,” the then 21 year old told ABC’s Diane Sawyer.

Asked what it was that she’d done, the singer kept her answer vague, explaining: “I was upset, I was upset for a little while. I think we were both really young. And it was kind of waiting to happen. I will always love him. He will always have a special place in my heart. He’s such a great person.”

Britney revealed that Justin did call her to warn her about the look-a-like but insisted she would never have retaliated so publicly.

She added: “I don’t want to judge him or anything like that ‘cause that’s the way he had to deal with what happened, and that’s fine, but I just…

“I know that if I was in a relationship and something happened, I couldn’t really go there. But it’s all good. Let’s talk about something else.”

Britney had previously declared that she wouldn’t have sex before marriage, but Justin blew that out of the water on the Howard Stern show when he admitted they’d done the deed.

She confirmed it was true but argued that she thought she and Justin would be together forever.

“I think in reality, if you really know in your heart of heart that you are gonna be with that person, forever, and you really think that, with all of your heart, and you’re in four, or five years, you know, into the relationship, I mean, stuff can happen,” she said.

“You know, I mean, I, you don’t go around sleeping around with people. I mean, I really thought that I was going to be with him or the rest of my life. I did.”

But the star’s feelings flooded over when he was asked about the initial split.

At first Britney tried to smile through it, but after conceding that it ‘was pretty rough’, her emotions got the better of her and she started crying in heartbreaking scenes.

Asked how it felt to lose Justin, she managed to say, “Yeah, it was kind of weird. Weird. Hello. Um, oh my goodness,” before breaking down.

Unable to stop her sobs, she begged Diana Sawyer to move on. “I’m embarrassed. Can we stop?” she pleaded.

In the years that followed, Justin’s anger mellowed, and he later told Marie Claire that their extreme existence as teen stars had been the key to their undoing.

“I wish her the best – that goes without saying. We haven’t spoken in 9 or 10 years,” he said.

“”We were two birds of the same feather – small-town kids, doing the same thing. But then you become adults, and the way you were as kids doesn’t make any sense. I won’t speak on her, but at least for me, I was a totally different person.

“I just don’t think we were normal; there was nothing normal about our existence. We spent way too much time being the biggest thing for teenyboppers.

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