Britney Spears Says ‘Cry Me a River’ Video Painted Her as a ‘Harlot’ When in Reality She Was ‘Comatose’ over Breakup

After their breakup, Justin Timberlake cast a Spears lookalike as his cheating ex in the “Cry Me a River” music video.

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in New York City in September 2000. PHOTO: DAVE HOGAN/GETTY

Britney Spears was thrown for a loop when her ex Justin Timberlake released his “Cry Me a River” music video, which famously featured an unfaithful girlfriend that looked an awful lot like the singer.

In her new memoir The Woman in Me, Spears, 41, reflects on the 2002 video, the plot for which she describes as, “a woman who looks like me cheats on him and he wanders around sad in the rain.”

The “Hold Me Closer” singer says the media backlash from the clip painted her as a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy,” when in actuality, she was “comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood.”

Spears also confirms in the book that she kissed choreographer Wade Robson while dating Timberlake.

Spears and Timberlake, 42, were together for several years before breaking up in March 2002 (The pop star writes elsewhere in her memoir that she had an abortion at Timberlake’s urging after she got pregnant while they were together).

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The *NSYNC alum released “Cry Me a River” in November 2002 as the second single off his debut solo album Justified, and told Teen People in 2003 that while he wouldn’t say explicitly who his songs were about, they would “bring clarity. They’re explanatory. I don’t have to say it.”

In his 2018 book Hindsight, Timberlake expanded on his songwriting process for the track, writing that his “strong” feelings pushed him to write it in only two hours.

“I’ve been scorned. I’ve been pissed off. That feeling inspired me to write ‘Cry Me a River,’” he wrote.

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As described in her book, Spears faced backlash from Timberlake’s portrayal of their breakup, and in a famous 2003 interview was grilled by Diane Sawyer, who asked the teary-eyed star, “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?”

Timberlake publicly apologized for his treatment of Spears in February 2021, writing in a post also dedicated to Janet Jackson that he was “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 up for what was right.”

“I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others … I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed,” he wrote.

Britney Spears on the cover of PEOPLE.BRITNEY BRANDS

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In an interview with PEOPLE done over email, Spears dives deeper into the most difficult moments of her life, admitting that she still finds them “hard to speak about.”

“The top things on my mind are not getting a moment of peace, the judgments from strangers who don’t even know me,” she says. “Having my freedom stripped away from me by my family and the government. Losing my passion for the things I love.”

Spears will release The Woman in Me on Oct. 24 through Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. It is now available for pre-order.

For an exclusive excerpt and interview with Britney Spears, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.