Inside Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel’s surprise 2011 split

They’re one of Hollywood’s few romantic success stories, with a marriage approaching its seventh year this October and a four-year-old son, Silas.

But for a moment there, things weren’t looking so good for megastars Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel.

It was 2011. Headline-friendly couple Biel and Timberlake — who each rose to fame in their respective acting and music careers in the 90s — had been together four years when the break-up statement dropped.

Biel had recently appeared in star-studded holiday film New Year’s Eve, and Timberlake was fresh off the set of hit rom-com Friends with Benefits alongside Mila Kunis, having hit pause on his solo music career to focus on acting.

RELATED: Justin Timberlake has revealed he hooked up with a Spice Girl, but which one was it?

RELATED: Jessica Biel on The Sinner, Hollywood sexism and being a working mum

Peppered with the assurance of mutuality and continued friendship — what was later infamously described as “conscious uncoupling” by Gwyneth Paltrow — the statement seemed to hint that the break-up wouldn’t last.

Of course, it didn’t, but the rumours surrounding why they split in the first place were rife.
 

 

Fast-forward a few months and they eventually reunited, tying the knot in 2012 with Biel in an iconic blush pink princess gown.

And they’re now on their way to joining the ranks of long-lasting celebrity romances.
 

 

Here’s their relationship timeline.

THE BEGINNINGS OF A HOLLYWOOD ROMANCE

Justin Timberlake met Jessica Biel at the Golden Globes in 2007.

Biel’s 7th Heaven co-star and close friend Beverly Mitchell later talked about the initial encounter, revealing that the flying sparks were clear even as a bystander.

“It was very, very sweet,” she told Access Hollywood Live.

“They were definitely flirting. They were really cute.”

Timberlake later asked a mutual friend for Biel’s number, and when they finally spoke on the phone, he invited the actress on a date.

The two “never really kissed for a very long time,” according to Biel, as Timberlake went on tour shortly after they met.

BIEL’S RELATIONSHIP HISTORY

Before Timberlake, Biel dated three other famous men, with rumours she had a brief fling with fellow A-lister Gerard Butler during their break.

Biel dated her I’ll Be Home for Christmas co-star Adam LaVorgna from 1998 to 2001. She then pursued a five-year romance with Chris Evans from 2001 to 2006.
 

Evans and Biel reportedly had an on-off relationship, and to this day there are no confirmed reports as to why it ended.

After Evans, Biel had a brief romance with professional baseball player Derek Jeter, but it fizzled. And then came Timberlake.

TIMBERLAKE’S MANY FAMOUS FLINGS

Justin Timberlake, on the other hand, has been linked to a host of famous women, from Fergie to Scarlett Johansson, Alicia Keys, Emma Bunton and Jenna Dewan.

He’s even rumoured to have shared a kiss with Beyonce.

But his two most memorable romances were of course with Britney Spears and Cameron Diaz.

His relationship with Spears began as a friendship in their pre-teen years, when they were both cast members of the American variety show The Mickey Mouse Club.

Seven years later, romance blossomed.

They dated from 1998-2002, securing themselves as a royal couple of the pop music industry.

“I’m not ashamed at all to say that I love him from the bottom of my heart. As far as love is concerned, with him, too much is not enough. He’s everything,” a besotted Spears told The Observer in 2001.
 

 

They split the next year, amid reports Spears had cheated with choreographer Wade Robson. “The break-up was absolutely heartbreaking for me. I can’t just have meaningless relationships with women. I have to find ‘Miss Right’ in order to have a relationship. There’s got to be that big moment when she comes along,” Timberlake later said.

The following year, he struck up a relationship with Cameron Diaz.

 

They met at the Kids Choice Awards when the Charlie’s Angels star presented him with the prize for “Best Burp”, but split after four years as rumours swirled that Diaz was jealous of Scarlett Johansson’s involvement in Timberlake’s 2006 What Goes Around … Comes Around music video.

While a fling between Johansson and Timberlake was never confirmed, he and Diaz announced their separation in January 2007.

That year, he met Biel.

THE YEARS BEFORE THE BREAK-UP

Biel and Timberlake’s early years together, as told by headlines, were riddled with cheating rumours. Rumours that seemed to follow Timberlake from his past relationships.

In March 2011, reps for the pair released a joint statement confirming that they had broken up.

“Addressing the media speculation regarding Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake’s relationship, we are confirming that they mutually have decided to part ways,” the statement released to People read.

“The two remain friends and continue to hold the highest level of love and respect for each other.”

According to reports, a then-30-year-old JT was ruminating on whether forever-relationships were possible, suggesting the split was a case of cold feet in the face of a potential long-term commitment.

“We talked a little about marriage,” Timberlake told Vanity Fair in 2011, a few months after the break-up went public.

“I think the mistake is that people commit to who that person is right then and not the person they’re going to become. That’s the art of staying together, is changing together. When you say it like that, it seems damn near impossible, right?,” the publication reported him questioning.

Around the time he and Biel parted ways, the cheating rumours were relentless. He was linked to Olivia Wilde and Olivia Munn. Before that it was Rihanna.

Not one of the flings were ever confirmed, and given the way Timberlake spoke of his ex, it seemed unlikely.

Although the relationship was over, Timberlake had nothing but nice things to say about her, telling Vanity Fair, “In my 30 years, she is the most special person, OK? I don’t want to say much more, because I have to protect things that are dear to me — for instance, her.”

In July that year, Us Weekly released photos of the exes catching up, and a few months later, they were engaged.
 

A ROMANCE REKINDLED

While taking in Montana’s breathtaking views in December 2011, Timberlake proposed to Biel.

He told Amazon Music, “When I did propose, I was saying to her, I was like, ‘Oh look at the shadows on the mountains,’ and I had the ring on my pinky.”
 

FROM MARRIAGE TO NOW

Speaking to Marie Claire on the inevitable curiosity surrounding how their relationship continues to work, Biel said last year, “We have similar values; we believe in loyalty, honesty. We like to have fun. We like a lot of the same things. Also, in the business, we’re all very career-oriented, and you have to be a little selfish. I understand that about my peers — about being focused and driven — and if you can find that and someone who shares the same values as you, it’s like: Score!”

This, and their overwhelming support for one another, keeps them going strong.

“With Justin, he’s so happy for me,” Biel told ELLE.com when her series The Sinner premiered in 2017. “I always say he’s my biggest fan.”

In Timberlake’s book Hindsight: & All the Things I Can’t See in Front of Me, he shared what it was that initially attracted him to his wife — the mother of his son.

“When I met Jess, it was undeniable how beautiful she is. I made some sort of sarcastic comment, really dry. Nobody got it except her,” Timberlake wrote.

“She laughed, and I noticed, all of a sudden, and in the way where you wonder if a person’s like you, if they have a very dry, dark sense of humour, too.”

And their shared sense of humour was echoed in this hilarious interview with Jimmy Fallon in November 2018 which revealed Timberlake’s “safe word” as pineapple.

Through this, it’s clear the couple are above all else, best friends.