Justin Timberlake has spoken out publicly for the first time since his arrest for drunk driving in the Hamptons this week, resulting in a mugshot of his hollow-eyed face making headlines around the world.
“It’s been a rough week,” the “Cry Me a River” singer told the crowd at Chicago’s United Center on Friday night, as he resumed his “Forget Tomorrow” world tour, his first performance since his embarrassing DUI arrest on Tuesday.
Timberlake has reportedly already apologised to backstage staff, but his onstage comments marked the first time the 10-time Grammy winner, 43, has publicly acknowledged the incident.
“I know sometimes I’m a hard person to love, but you all continue to love me,” the former NSYNC member continued onstage, as the audience showered him with cheers.
The “Sexy Back” singer, who has two tour dates coming up at Madison Square Garden on June 25th and 26th, was “having dinner with friends” at the American Hotel when he downed the strong $21 Vesper Martini, sources said.
Authorities said after driving off in a gray 2025 BMW around 12:15 a.m., Timberlake almost immediately ran a stop sign, causing police to pull him over outside the glamorous hotel, a celebrity favorite that charges $625 a night.
He was charged with DUI and accused of disobeying a stop sign and failure to maintain lane, according to court documents.
According to sources, the officer who pulled over the world-famous singer “was so young he didn’t even know who Timberlake was” and didn’t recognize him or his name.
When an officer complained that breaking the law would “ruin the tour,” body camera footage showed the officer responding, “What tour?”
Timberlake told arresting officers he had only had one drink and refused three field sobriety tests. He attempted to take a field sobriety test but failed and was taken into custody, according to court documents.
Witnesses at the bar told The Post that the former “Mickey Mouse Club” star was “intoxicated” and had grabbed people’s drinks off the table and downed them while the bar owner went to the bathroom.
Timberlake appeared in court that afternoon looking disheveled in a black baseball cap, a gray graphic t-shirt that read “Live Circuit,” and a black short-sleeved button-up shirt. He was released without bail.
The “In Time” star admits that he has struggled with “excessive drinking” in the past.
He has two children with actress Jessica Biel, whom he married in 2012.
A source told Us Weekly that Biel, 42, who was in Manhattan filming a movie, was “shocked” and “deeply upset” by the news of her husband’s DUI arrest.
If convicted, Timberlake faces up to a year in Suffolk County Jail, but experts told The Washington Post that such a sentence is highly unlikely given Timberlake’s lack of a criminal history.
He will likely be fined $500 and have his New York driver’s license suspended for 90 days.
