The man who was once considered one of America’s sweethearts is going through his lowest moment. Singer and actor Justin Timberlake, 43, was arrested Monday night by the New York police for driving under the influence of alcohol. This was confirmed by several US media, including TMZ and Peoplewhich reported that the former Disney kid who has always tried to stay out of controversy remains in police custody.
The police declined to provide more information, but it is expected that they will make a statement on Tuesday. According to the British tabloid The Daily Mail, the former leader of the chart-topping Backstreet Boys will appear in court on Tuesday afternoon. Sources close to the singer of hits such as Rock Your Body say that it is simply a traffic violation, but the police have told US media that they do not arrest a person for a minor offense. Sources familiar with the case awning People that “nobody was hurt.”
Timberlake was arrested after spending the evening at a hotel in the Sag Harbor area, about 150 miles east of New York in the Hamptons — a famous summer beach area for celebrities and millionaires. The singer was arrested after leaving the group of friends he had dined shortly after midnight, according to local police sources quoted by Fox News, which was confirmed by another source to TheDailyMail.
“Justin was out to dinner with friends and there were cop cars parked outside the restaurant, like there are most nights. They look for people who are leaving after midnight who might have been drinking,” a source told the tabloid. “Justin left at 12:30 am and was pulled over as soon as he left. Nobody was hurt and there was no drama at the scene.”
According to Peoplethe singer was on his way to a friend’s house after dining at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor, one of the small town’s historic waterfront establishments.
Timberlake will appear in court on Tuesday, in a hearing in which the charges against him will be formulated. The singer has been married to actress Jessica Biel since 2012, and the couple has two children. A day before his arrest, on Father’s Day, Timberlake described his children as his “greatest gifts” in a post on social media.
Timberlake is currently in the middle of The Forget Tomorrow World Tour, with concert dates until December 20. He is scheduled to play in Chicago on Friday and Saturday, return for a concert in New York’s Madison Square Garden and then travel to Boston. So far, it is not known if he will continue with these concerts.
The singer has also just launched a Tiny Desk concert with NPR. Timberlake — who, in addition to winning 10 Grammy Awards, has also dabbled as an actor in films such as The Social Network (2010) — you have acknowledged in the past that you have taken marijuana “to stop thinking” and that you have taken “many different substances” at the Coachella music festival.
Although Timberlake’s career is doing well, personally it hasn’t been the best year for the musician, who despite wanting to lead a relatively quiet life has been put in the spotlight over his past relationship with Britney Spears. In Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me, which was released last October, she said that she became pregnant during their relationship, and that he forced her to have an abortion, which she recalled as “one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life”: “If it had been left up to me alone, I would never have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”
Timberlake did not immediately comment on the memoir, but at a concert in February, while singing Cry Me a River — a song written just after breaking up with Spears in 2002, about a man who is betrayed by his girlfriend — he blurted out: “I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize… to absolutely fucking nobody.”
Many celebrities have been pulled over for alcohol and drug-related driving offenses in recent years. Former world boxing champion Mike Tyson, for example, was arrested in 2006 for drunken driving and cocaine possession outside a nightclub in Scottsdale, Arizona. Actress Lindsay Lohan was also arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicating substances in 2010, while Justin Bieber was arrested in 2014 for speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and pills.
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