Britney Spears is sharing for the first time a painful experience that she kept secret for 20 years.
In her upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me, the pop icon reveals that when she was in a relationship with Justin Timberlake, she became pregnant with his child but miscarried.
"It was a surprise, but for me, it was not a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always hoped that one day we would have a family together. This happened much earlier than I had anticipated. But Justin was not happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren't ready to have a child in our lives, that we were too young."
"If it was up to me, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was adamant that he didn't want to be a father," she adds.
Spears writes of the abortion experience: "To this day, it is one of the most painful things I have ever experienced in my life."
Justin and Britney dated when they were 17 and 18, between 1999 and 2002. After splitting, she gave birth to two sons - Sean Preston, 18, and Jayden James, 17 - with second husband Kevin Federline.
Justin Timberlake has not reacted.
