Britney Spears calls Justin Timberlake a 'genius' as she addresses 2002 split

Britney Spears showed there were no hard feelings as she called ex Justin Timberlake a “genius” and danced to his music despite them going through “one of the world's biggest breakups”.

The pair started dating in the late 90s when Spears was at the height of her pop fame and ruled the charts, but they went their separate ways in 2002. At the time there was plenty of gossip about why they broke up and there were rumours that Timberlake’s track Cry Me A River was about the split.

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However, Spears has now showed that any bad blood is behind them as she shared a video on Instagram of her dancing to Timberlake’s song Filthy.

The singer, 38, said in the caption: “PS I know we had one of the world's biggest breakups 20 years ago …… but hey the man is a genius!!!! Great song JT !!!!

“Pssss if you KNOW WHAT'S GOOD."

Spears’ post caught Timberlake’s attention and he responded by posting a crying with laughter emoji.

And Spears’ little sister Jamie Lynn quipped: “Blogs are already plotting their outrageous stories.... you keep having fun and looking cute tho!!”

Spears and Timberlake met on TV show The New Mickey Mouse Club in the early 90s, and by 1998 they were an item.

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Toxic singer Spears in now in a relationship with model Sam Ashgari and Timberlake is married to actress Jessica Biel.