Britney Spears has compared her two-week fling with Colin Farell to a “street fight” in the whirlwind aftermath of her difficult break up with Justin Timberlake.
The US pop star, 41, detailed her brief but tempestuous affair with Oscar-nominated Irish actor, 47, in her forthcoming memoir The Woman in Me, which is scheduled for release on 24 October.
In an exclusive excerpt obtained by Time magazine, Spears wrote that “a club promoter friend” set her up with Banshees of Inisherin star in the early 2000s, when she decided it was time to move on from the NSYNC frontman who she claimed “slept with six of seven girls” after they “officially” broke up.
After she was introduced to Farrell, Spears said she visited him on the set of his movie S.W.A.T. and the pair had a brief, “two-week brawl” – describing the passion they shared.
“Brawl is the only word for it – we were all over each other, grappling so passionately it was like we were in a street fight,” Spears wrote.
The “Baby One More Time” hitmaker attended premiere of Farrell’s film The Recruit in 2003, with the duo posing together on the red carpet, but Spears admitted she “wasn’t over Justin yet”.
She added: “As I had before when I’d felt too attached to a man, I tried to convince myself in every way that it was not a big deal, that we were just having fun, that in this case, I was vulnerable because I wasn’t over Justin yet.”
At the premiere, Farrell told reporters “there’s nothing going on” between him and Spears, adding they were “just mates”.
Spears recalled brief, passionate affair with Farrell after she broke up with Timberlake in 2002— (Getty Images)
The singer later confirmed their whirlwind romance was “nothing serious” in an interview with W Magazine, adding: “Yes, I kissed him… He’s the cutest, hottest thing in the world.”
Bombshell revelations, A-list celebrity name drops, leaked copies, and exclusive excerpts – the countdown to Spears’s memoir has seen it all.
In an earlier excerpt obtained by People, the Grammy-winner revealed she had an abortion during her relationship with Timberlake, 42. who Spears dated from 1998 until 2002.
“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. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated” she described her feelings of the pregnancy.
“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,” she continued.
The Independent has contacted representatives for Spears and Timberlake for comment.
Timberlake and Spears met on the set of All-New Mickey MouseClub in 1992, when they were cast as “Mousketeers” on the Disney show.
They began dating in 1999 and went public with their relationship the following year, with the former couple sitting together at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.
Timberlake released the song “Cry Me A River” in 2002, the same year he and Spears broke up. The song’s music video featured a woman with blonde hair, sparking speculation they broke up because Spears cheated on him.
In an excerpt from her memoir obtained by The New York Times, Spears said the media fallout triggered by the video depicted her as a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy”.
