--- title: What Britney Spears Says About Colin Farrell in Memoir description: In Britney Spear's anticipated memoir, she writes about her brief relationship with actor Colin Farrell. canonical: https://time.com/6326033/britney-spears-colin-farrell-book/ author: Moises Mendez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-19T20:17:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T16:33:52.371Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Britney Spears Revisits Her 2003 Fling With Colin Farrell og:description: In her anticipated memoir, Spears writes about her brief, passionate "brawl" with actor Colin Farrell og:url: https://time.com/6326033/britney-spears-colin-farrell-book/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71de145635077f0f/698a415c16d8840254c3c58a/GettyImages-1750967.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Colin Farrell and Britney Spears og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Britney Spears Revisits Her 2003 Fling With Colin Farrell twitter:description: In her anticipated memoir, Spears writes about her brief, passionate "brawl" with actor Colin Farrell twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71de145635077f0f/698a415c16d8840254c3c58a/GettyImages-1750967.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Britney Spears Revisits Her 2003 Fling With Colin Farrell ## Video: 'Crossroads' Director Reflects on Britney Spears and Impact of the Movie [Watch (HLS stream): 'Crossroads' Director Reflects on Britney Spears and Impact of the Movie](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fBL9ZckL.m3u8) (3:41)  _Published 2023-10-19. The movie "Crossroads" returns to theaters on Oct. 23 and 25 for a special fan event to accompany the release of Spears' memoir, The Woman in Me._  by [Moises Mendez](https://time.com/author/moises-mendez-ii/)  ## Moises Mendez Oct 19, 2023 8:17 PM UTC  Britney Spears and Colin Farrell arrive at the premiere of "The Recruit" at the Cinerama Dome on Jan. 28, 2003. Britney Spears and Colin Farrell arrive at the premiere of "The Recruit" at the Cinerama Dome on Jan. 28, 2003.Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images  by [Moises Mendez](https://time.com/author/moises-mendez-ii/)  ## Moises Mendez Oct 19, 2023 8:17 PM UTC In her new memoir, [_The Woman in Me_](https://time.com/6325932/britney-spears-madonna-kiss-vmas-2003-book/), [Britney Spears](https://time.com/6317486/britney-spears-life-post-conservatorship/) details a brief fling she had with the actor [Colin Farrell](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/6268980/colin-farrell/) in the early 2000s. The pair met while Farrell was filming the movie _S.W.A.T._, following Spears's very public breakup with [Justin Timberlake](https://time.com/4753087/its-gonna-be-may-justin-timberlake/). Writing that Timberlake slept with “six or seven girls" in the weeks after they "officially" ended their relationship, Spears says she was still torn up about her ex. “He was a girl’s dream. I was in love with him.” To try and move on from the relationship, Spears writes that she decided it was time to start dating again and was set up with Farrell through a “club promoter friend.” They connected, she visited him on the set of his movie, and the pair “had a two-week brawl,” Spears writes in the book, a copy of which was obtained by TIME ahead of its Oct. 24 release. “_Brawl_ is the only word for it—we were all over each other, grappling so passionately it was like we were in a street fight." When they attended the premiere of Farrell's 2003 movie _The Recruit_, Spears recalls that she was not fully over Timberlake. “As I had before when I’d felt too attached to a man, I tried to convince myself in every way that it was not a big deal, that we were just having fun, that in this case, I was vulnerable because I wasn’t over Justin yet.” ### More From TIME **_Read More:_** [_Britney Spears Details Her 55-Hour Marriage to Jason Alexander_](https://time.com/6325980/britney-spears-jason-alexander-marriage-book/) At that premiere, Farrell told reporters that their relationship was casual. "We’re not dating. She’s a sweet, sweet girl. There’s nothing going on—just mates,” he said at the time. [_Entertainment Weekly_ reported](https://ew.com/article/2003/02/06/who-britney-dating/) that Spears left the event “as soon as the paparazzi were gone.” Later that year, Spears spoke to _W Magazine_ about the brief relationship, saying, “Yes, I kissed him... He's the cutest, hottest thing in the world—wooh!... But it was nothing serious." She doesn’t detail the end of her relationship with Farrell in [_The Woman in Me_](https://time.com/6325910/britney-spears-memoir-free-britney/), except to say that “for a brief moment in time, I did think there could be something there. The disappointments in my romantic life were just one part of how isolated I became. I felt so awkward all the time.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6326033/britney-spears-colin-farrell-book/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6326033/britney-spears-colin-farrell-book/"},"headline":"Britney Spears Revisits Her 2003 Fling With Colin Farrell","datePublished":"2023-10-19T20:17:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T16:33:52.371Z","description":"In Britney Spear's anticipated memoir, she writes about her brief, passionate 'brawl' with actor Colin Farrell.","url":"https://time.com/6326033/britney-spears-colin-farrell-book/","keywords":["Books","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71de145635077f0f/698a415c16d8840254c3c58a/GettyImages-1750967.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Moises Mendez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/moises-mendez-ii/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71de145635077f0f/698a415c16d8840254c3c58a/GettyImages-1750967.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Colin Farrell and Britney Spears","caption":"Colin Farrell and Britney Spears","creditText":"Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6326033/britney-spears-colin-farrell-book/","name":"Britney Spears Revisits Her 2003 Fling With Colin Farrell"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"'Crossroads' Director Reflects on Britney Spears and Impact of the Movie","description":"The movie \"Crossroads\" returns to theaters on Oct. 23 and 25 for a special fan event to accompany the release of Spears' memoir, The Woman in Me.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fBL9ZckL/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-10-19T21:07:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fBL9ZckL.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6326033/britney-spears-colin-farrell-book/","duration":"PT3M41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6326033/britney-spears-colin-farrell-book/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```