Timbaland has apologized after facing a backlash for saying that Justin Timberlake should “put a muzzle” on Britney Spears.

Last month the singer released her tell-all memoir, ”The Woman in Me,” which details her rise to pop superstardom and the challenges she has endured in the spotlight.

whThe book also reflects on her relationship with the *NSYNC star, and includes an account of an abortion she had 20 years ago ile they were together.

Opening up about Timberlake’s 2002 hit “Cry Me A River,” Spears writes that the song made her out to be unfaithful and a “harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy”.

Timbaland was asked about the renewed interest in the song, which he produced, during an interview with producer 9th Wonder at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC last month.

“She’s going crazy, right?” he said. “I wanted to call JT, ‘Man, you gotta put a muzzle on that girl.’”

He’s since apologized after facing widespread criticism.

“I apologize to the Britney fans and her,” he said while live on TikTok, reading a comment about his attitudes towards women. “Yes, ‘you know about respecting women?’ Hell yeah.”

In her book, Spears also opens up about the physical and emotional pain she went after her abortion.

“I’m sure people will hate me for this, but I agreed not to have the baby,” the “Gimme More” singer writes. “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.”

Spears recalls having the abortion at home to avoid their family or the media finding out. “To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life.”

She also discusses the fallout of their breakup, which she claimed the *NSYNC singer initiated over text message.

Spears and Timberlake began dating in 1999 when she was 17 and he was 18. They first met as children on the The All New Mickey Mouse Club.