Why Britney Spears apologised to Justin Timberlake on Instagram this weekend

Britney Spears apologised to Justin Timberlake on Instagram this weekend, following some of the revelations she made about him in her recent memoir, The Woman in Me.

The move surprised fans, who had seen how vilified Britney had been in the media after her breakup with Justin and largely felt she was entitled to tell her side of the story. But now, a source is shedding light on why the singer chose to share some apologetic words for Justin.

"She didn’t realise how powerful her words would be," the source told the Daily Mail.

"Regarding what she said in her book, she never intended for people to come after Justin in the way that they did.

"Ultimately it was Britney’s decision to abort her baby. It was her body and had she really wanted to say no, she could have."

The revelation that Britney had had an abortion during her relationship with Justin in the early 2000s was one of the two bombshells involving the Friends With Benefits star, alongside the accusation that he cheated on her.

In her Instagram post, Britney appeared to refer to Justin as one of the people "I genuinely care about," and said: "I am deeply sorry."

The source expanded on her words, telling the Mail: "You will always have feelings for the first person that you loved. Justin has come to her defence before, and she didn’t want to hurt him like she did and change the opinion people have of him... It was her story and she told it how she felt it needed to be told."

After The Woman in Me was released, Britney's fans didn't shy away from criticising Justin online. At the time, a source claimed: "Justin is not at all happy about what has come out in this book. Doing this book has given Britney life, and she really doesn’t care who is offended by anything in it because it is what happened. She was there and lived through it. No one can say anything. She has got this all out of her and is moving on now."