On Wednesday, singer and actor Justin Timberlake issued a public apology to his wife, actress Jessica Biel, after being photographed holding hands with his “Palmer” co-star Alisha Wainwright last month.
“I stay away from gossip as much as I can, but for my family, I feel it is important to address recent rumors that are hurting the people I love,” Timberlake wrote in an Instagram post.
“A few weeks ago I displayed a strong lapse in judgment – but let me be clear – nothing happened between me and my co-star,” he said. “I drank way too much that night and I regret my behavior. I should have known better.”
In November, U.K. tabloid The Sun published photos of Timberlake and Wainwright drinking together at an outdoor bar. In one photo, the co-stars are holding hands; in another, Wainwright has her hand on Timberlake’s knee.
“At one stage he grabbed her hand and rested it on his knee. She then gently started stroking his leg,” a source told the outlet. “Then he clutched her hand with both of his and was playing with her hands.”
“This is not the example I want to set for my son,” Timberlake continued. He and Biel, who have been married for seven years, have a four-year-old son together named Silas.
“I apologize to my amazing wife and family for putting them through such an embarrassing situation, and I am focused on being the best husband and father I can be,” the 38-year-old continued. “This was not that.”
“I am incredibly proud to be working on Palmer,” he concluded. “Looking forward to continuing to make this movie and excited for people to see it.”
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According to Fox News, insiders close to Biel told People magazine “that the couple .. will ‘work through this.'”
“It was good that he apologized publicly but obviously the real work he is doing is in private and hopefully this was just a bad drunken night of this type of behavior,” said the source.
“There is no validity to this speculation. They are working on a project together,” a rep for Wainwright told Entertainment Tonight in a statement, Fox News noted.
Hollywood marriages are notoriously fraught with cheating and turmoil. Taking a different direction than Timberlake seemingly is, “Silicon Valley” star Thomas Middleditch claimed in September that he “saved” his marriage by swinging.
“Speaking with Playboy, Middleditch said that he asked his wife, Mollie Gates, if she would be okay with an open marriage shortly after their wedding in 2015, which he claims to have made their relationship all the more better,” The Daily Wire reported.
“I don’t know how much I can say, because I don’t want my wife to be mad at me. Only after I got married was I like, ‘Mollie, I’m sorry, but we have to get nontraditional here.’ To her credit, instead of saying ‘F*** you, I’m out,’ she was like, ‘Let’s figure this out,’” Middleditch boasted to Playboy. “To be honest, swinging has saved our marriage. We have different speeds, and we argue over it constantly, but it’s better than feeling unheard and alone and that you have to scurry in the shadows. By the way, it’s now called being ‘part of the lifestyle.’ The term swinging is old.”
