Britney Spears reveals Justin Timberlake dumped her via text message

The singer has finally spilled on the end of their three-year romance, revealing Timberlake left her heartbroken with his brutal message.

Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. Picture: Tom Mihalek/AFP

Britney Spears has finally revealed the details of her break-up with Justin Timberlake, confirming longtime speculation that he dumped her via text message.

In leaked passages from her highly-anticipated new memoir, The Woman In Me, Spears, 41, admits she was “devastated” and considered quitting the music industry entirely after her boyfriend of three years called it quits in 2002.

“I was comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood,” she wrote, as reported by the New York Times.

Timberlake and Spears were one of the most high-profile couples in Hollywood when they dated between 1999 and 2002, after first meeting as young kids on The Mickey Mouse Club TV series in 1992.

Timberlake dumped Spears in 2002. Picture: Lucy Nicholson/AFP

The devastating break-up message came through while Spears was in the midst of filming the music video for Overprotected, but according to its director, Chris Applebaum, she “rallied” and got back to work.

“At some point during the 2nd [half of the video shoot] Brit disappeared and I went to her trailer to fetch her … only to discover her BF Justin had just broken up with her via text message. (Let me recommend to any who reads this: don’t break up via text!),” he wrote on Instagram last year.

“We sat on the floor of her trailer for a minute, talked it out, and then rallied. I told her she should get out there & show Justin he made the biggest mistake of his life.”

Spears also called out the media for painting her as a “harlot”. Picture: TOM Mihalek/AFP

In her new book, Spears says that after the split, the media portrayed her as the “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy”.

The narrative was heavily fuelled by Timberlake’s break-up anthem Cry Me A River, which featured a britney lookalike in the music video – and included an unsubtle suggestion of cheating, with lyrics such as: “You don’t have to say what you did / I already know / I found out from him.”

Ironically, as Spears details for the first time in her memoir, Timberlake allegedly cheated on her twice during their relationship, both times with famous women.

According to US Weekly, she claims in her book that the former NSYNC singer hooked up with “one of the girls” from a hit ‘90s girl band while in London in 2000.

Rumours had circulated at the time that Timberlake had cheated on Spears with All Saints’ star Nicole Appleton after the pair were photographed heading back to his hotel after a night out, but it’s never been confirmed.

Spears reportedly refuses to name the other female celebrity involved in their love triangle, as she now has a family she doesn’t want to embarrass.

All Saints’ Nicole Appleton (in sunglasses) has been dragged into the story. Picture: AFP

Spears’ memoir is still days away from release, but already plenty of bombshell details have been released.

On Thursday, it emerged that in The Woman In Me, she finally admits to cheating on Timberlake with Aussie choreographer – and later, Michael Jackson accuser – Wade Robson, following years of speculation.

Robson, pictured in 2003, “made out” with Spears. Picture: News Corp Australia

Robson, also 41, was a dancer for Spears for years, and the I’m A Slave 4 U singer claims she did cheat with him once, after finding out that Timberlake had gone behind her back with a fellow celebrity.

Speaking about the moment, she says in her memoir: “We were out one night and we went to a Spanish bar. We danced and danced. I made out with him that night.”

The singer goes on to claim that she had been loyal to Timberlake for years “with that one exception”.

She also says that she came clean to Timberlake about the incident and that they had agreed to move past it.

Earlier this week, People magazine published an excerpt from the memoir, which also revealed for the first time that Spears had fallen pregnant with Timberlake’s child when they were in their late teens, but had gotten an abortion at his urging.

“It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day,” she wrote, according to the publication.

“This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated. But Justin definitely wasn’t happy about the pregnancy.

“He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young. I’m sure people will hate me for this, but I agreed not to have the baby. I don’t know if that was the right decision.

“If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”

The Overprotected star added that it was “one of the most agonising things I have ever experienced in my life”.

The Woman In Me will be released on October 24.

Originally published as Britney Spears reveals Justin Timberlake dumped her via text message