In her memoir “The Woman in Me,” released Tuesday, Britney Spears opened up about how her ex Justin Timberlake acknowledged her sexual maturity when her management team tried to deny it.

Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty

Timberlake spoke to the press about their relationship and 2002 breakup while promoting his first solo album, “Justified.” The record came out months after the pop stars ended a nearly three-year romantic relationship.

In the music video for his hit song “Cry Me A River,” in which he insinuates that Spears cheated on him, he notably used a Spears doppelgänger to play the woman who breaks his heart.

In her book, Spears says that the video “shamed” her, but she’s actually grateful that Timberlake spoke about their sex life and confirmed for the world that she wasn’t a virgin.

Britney Spears & Justin Timberlake in 2001. Jeffrey Mayer/Getty Images
“Was I mad at being ‘outed’ by him as sexually active? No,” Spears writes. “To be honest with you, I liked that Justin did that.”

Spears writes that she lost her virginity at the age of 14, and doesn’t understand why her team was adamant about portraying her as an “eternal virgin.”

The “Overprotected” singer acknowledges that it was no one’s business who she slept with and it was difficult to get booed in public for cheating on Timberlake. But in talking about their intimacy publicly, Spears says her ex actually spared her from having to tell the world she wasn’t a virgin herself.

“His talking about our having sex never bothered me at all, and I’ve defended him to people who criticized him for doing it,” Spears writes, adding that she “liked” what he said.

The 2002 event was near the end of their relationship. Jeff Kravitz
“What I heard when he said that was, ‘She’s a woman. No, she’s not a virgin. Shut up,'” she writes.

During an appearance on the New York City radio station Hot 97 in 2002, Timberlake admitted to having sex with Spears.

“I did it,” he reportedly said. “I’m dirty. I’m in so much damn trouble, man. I’m going to get calls from my mother!”

He also famously laughed out loud in a 2003 Barbara Walters interview for 20/20 when Walter asked if he and Spears had honored Spears’ public declaration to remain a virgin until marriage. “Sure,” he says.

Timberlake and Spears in April 2001. Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
In her memoir, Spears says she was grateful for those moments. She also addressed the infidelity rumors, admitted she cheated on Timberlake with Wade Robson once. But according to Spears, Timberlake was not that innocent either.

“There were rumors about him with various dancers and groupies,” she writes of Timberlake’s own alleged infidelity during their relationship. “I let it all go, but clearly, he’d slept around.”