Britney Spears Says Justin Timberlake Kissed Her at Mouseketeer Sleepover on a Dare (Exclusive)

Britney Spears is reflecting on her time as a Mouseketeer. 

In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me, shared exclusively with PEOPLE, the pop icon, 41, writes about her time on The Mickey Mouse Club — and a certain connection she made early on. 

“Being in the show was boot camp for the entertainment industry: extensive dance rehearsals, singing lessons, acting classes, time in the recording studio, and school in between,” writes Spears, who appeared on the show from 1993. “The Mouseketeers quickly split into our own cliques, divided by the dressing rooms that we shared: Christina Aguilera and I were the younger kids, and we shared a dressing room. We looked up to the older kids–Keri Russell, Ryan Gosling, and Tony Lucca, who I thought was so handsome. And I quickly connected with a boy named Justin Timberlake.”

Spears and Timberlake went on to date from 1999 to 2002, but their relationship began to bloom behind the scenes on The Mickey Mouse Club.

“[Once] at a sleepover, we played Truth or Dare, and someone dared Justin to kiss me,” she writes. “A Janet Jackson song was playing in the background as he leaned in and kissed me.”

The “Toxic” singer also reveals in The Woman in Me that while the show was “unbelievably fun,” it also was “exceptionally hard work,” with the kids expected to practice choreography and routines “thirty times in a day.” 

Timberlake and Spears later dated in the early aughts before their 2002 breakup. The “Mirrors” singer  went on to marry actress Jessica Biel in 2012, and the couple share sons Silas, 8, and Phineas, 3. Spears shares sons Sean Preston, 18, and Jayden James, 17, with ex-husband Kevin Federline. 

Spears’ new book release follows the 2021 termination of her 13-year-long conservatorship, which Timberlake also spoke out about in June of that year. After Spears revealed she wanted “to end the conservatorship,” the *NSYNC alum wrote to his fans on social media that “we should all be supporting Britney at this time.”

“Regardless of our past, good and bad, and no matter how long ago it was… what’s happening to her is just not right,” he wrote. “No woman should ever be restricted from making decisions about her own body. No one should EVER be held against their will… or ever have to ask permission to access everything they’ve worked so hard for.”

Timberlake, now 42, then ended his messages on Twitter with words of support on behalf of himself and Biel.

“Jess and I send our love, and our absolute support to Britney during this time,” he shared. “We hope the courts, and her family make this right and let her live however she wants to live.”

The Woman in Me is set to release on Oct. 24. and is available for preorder now.

For more of the exclusive excerpt and interview with Britney Spears, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.