Who is Tonya Mitchell, the woman with whom Justin Timberlake allegedly cheated on Britney Spears?

Britney Spears’ bombshell memoir is still a few days away, but its pending release has not stopped snippets from the book from making headlines and dropping unexpected revelations, with the latest being her allegation against Justin Timberlake of cheating on her during their relationship with two separate women.

While her memoir does mention that Justin cheated on her, it doesn’t confirm the names of the celebs involved with him at the time, only specifying that one of them is now married and has children. Spears not spelling their names has only served to unearth the many rumors about Justin back in 2002. While the All Saints Star Nicole Appleton is believed to be one of the celebrities mentioned in the memoir, an archived Star magazine article, that aligns with the timeline of the said affairs, has made the name “Tonya Mitchell” a big question mark.

Who is Tonya Mitchell?

Tonya Mitchell is a former pop singer who was active from 1999 to 2002. As shared by Reverb Nation, Mitchell was passionate about singing from a very young age and would perform with her father, Cowboy Louie who worked as a magician. But her real break came when Justin Timberlake’s grandfather, Bill Bomar, heard her singing in 1998 and offered to give her the career she deserved via his daughter’s new management company, Just In Time Management, touting how his grandson was a successful singer as well.

Tonya soon signed in with the company, immediately bagging a record deal with Universal Records. By 2001, she had released her first album, I Represent. For a while, things were going exceptionally well for her. Her hit single “Broken Promises” was #38 on Billboard’s Pop chart, she went on a radio tour, and was the opening act during the NSYNC Pop Odyssey stadium tour. 

“Things did not seem like they could get any better. I was on top of the world! I remember Father’s Day 2001. My dad came on tour with me and I wished him a Happy Father’s Day in front of all those people. The proud look on his face as he stood and waved is something I will never forget. Everything we had worked so hard for was really happening and he was here seeing it and sharing this moment with me!”

But everything went downhill for Tonya after her father passed away as Universal canceled her deal while the management company also cut its ties with her. The back-to-back setbacks prompted her to take a hiatus from singing. While she did try to revive her career a few years later, evidently the industry was no longer ready to embrace her with open arms.

Did Justin Timberlake really cheat on Britney Spears with Tonya Mitchell?

As stated above, while Spears hasn’t offered the names of the individuals Timberlake cheated on her with, many have done the math and discovered a two-decade-old article by the magazine Star that reported Britney allegedly went “absolutely ballistic” after she supposedly came to find Tonya with Timberlake.

“Britney and Justin ended up having a huge fight over Tonya and things were never the same between them after that.”

While social media is ablaze with speculation about whether Tonya Mitchell really played a part in Spears and Timberlake’s breakup, the only thing the “Womanizer” singer has confirmed beyond doubt in her memoir, The Woman in Me, is that it was the Friends With Benefits star’s infidelity that pushed her to cheat on him with dancer Wade Robson.

Where is Tonya Mitchell now?

Not much is known about Mitchell’s current whereabouts apart from the update that she got married to Jason Essary, a car salesman, in 2002 and has one child with him, as per IMDb.