Justin Timberlake Named His Dog Brennan, The Name Britney Spears Wanted To Name Her Child
Was it just a coincidence or out of spite?
Featureflash Photo Agency and Tinseltown / Shutterstock; Lee Hardy and Dave Goudreau / Unsplash; Gil Cerryle Fonkwo and Codioful / Canva In the wake of singer Britney Spears’ bombshell revelation that she was once pregnant with Justin Timberlake’s baby, but later had an abortion, fans have uncovered another peculiar and rather unsettling detail.
Although Spears never got the chance to meet or name her unborn baby with Timberlake, there was a particular name that Spears had in mind if she ever had a baby girl. Coincidentally, once the former couple went their separate ways, Timberlake ended up using the name for one of his own family members.
Justin Timberlake named his dog named ‘Brennan,’ the same name Spears has expressed wanting to name her daughter should she ever have one.
In her newly-released memoir “The Woman In Me” which details her complicated life, Spears revealed that while she was dating songwriter and singer Justin Timberlake back in the early 2000s, she became pregnant with his child.
"It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy,” Spears wrote of the unexpected pregnancy. “I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated."
However, Timberlake was not thrilled about the news, believing that it was too soon for him and Spears to become parents. Because of this, Spears ultimately decided to terminate the pregnancy. The experience was not something that Spears took lightly.
"If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father,” she wrote. “To this day, it’s one of the most agonizing things I have ever experienced in my life."
Heartbroken fans who mourned alongside Spears after learning the news could not help but note that early in her career, the singer hoped that if she ever had the chance to welcome a baby girl, she would name her “Brennan.”
In the interview where a young Spears first made the claims, she added that she loved the name “Preston” for a boy. It is unknown if the interview took place before or after her abortion.
Oddly enough, years after their split, Timberlake welcomed a boxer into his new family, whom he named — you guessed it — Brennan. He also owns three other dogs, a second boxer named Buckley, a pitbull and labrador mix, and a new puppy named Billy.
Although there is nothing that suggests Timberlake named his dog Brennan out of spite toward Spears, some fans could not help but wonder if he was inspired to choose the name because of his ex.
Although Spears went on to welcome two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, the termination of her unborn baby was a pain she may still be affected by.
Spears once pretended to have a baby girl named Brennan.
In 2021, Spears made an alarming post on Instagram sharing with fans that she and her now ex-husband, Sam Asghari, welcomed a baby girl named Brennan. Brennan turned out to be a doll that Spears appeared to believe was a live newborn.
"I had a baby y’all. I will be taking some time off shooting at home every day!!! Her nursery is beautiful and her name is Brennan… we even look alike!!!” Spears captioned her bizarre post. Asghari joined in on the unusual baby announcement, commenting, "Look at that! You look just like each other.”
While the former couple may have simply been joking around with their fans, some people believe now that Spears still could have been mourning the baby she never got to meet with Timberlake, and was manifesting her wishes for her baby girl’s name.
Despite the odd Instagram post where Spears acted as if the doll was her live baby, it is actually not uncommon for women who have miscarried or lost their babies to seek comfort in baby dolls as a coping mechanism to deal with their heartbreak.
Therapists believe that holding a baby doll and caring for it as if it were a living infant allows grief to manifest in a healthy way.
Psychologist and cofounder and co-director of the Center for Reproductive Psychology, James J. Diamond, explained to CafeMom that the connection between mother and child begins long before the child is even born.
When a mother loses her pregnancy, she loses more than her unborn child. She loses her hopes, dreams, and the life she envisioned for them.
"Holding on to a doll may allow the person to have a partial experience of actualizing all those parts of the story that have been building up over a lifetime," Diamond says.
Even though Spears chose to terminate her pregnancy, that does not make her loss any less significant, and it certainly does not mean that she should be excluded from the grieving process. She too, had her hopes of welcoming “Brennan” into the world stripped from her.
It is also important to note that although Timberlake was not ready to be a father at the time Spears became pregnant, it also does not mean that he was not painfully impacted by the decision.
For all we know, naming his dog Brennan could have been a coping strategy of his own to pay tribute to the child he never got to meet and name.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.