Justin Timberlake fuelled speculation that Britney cheated on him following their 2002 breakup. When Britney and Timberlake's relationship came to an end, he released his single, "Cry Me a River." "Justin sort of made it seem, rightly or wrongly, like she had cheated on him," former MTV VJ Dave Holmes noted. "It really seemed like he took control of the narrative." Writer Wesley Morris added, "The way that people treated her, to be very high school about it, was like she was the school slut, and he was like the school quarterback or whatever, and he essentially weaponizes the video for one of his singles to incriminate her in the demise of the relationship."
Lynne believes Britney's public breakdown may have actually been postpartum depression. While detailing Britney's divorce and custody battle with Kevin Federline in 2006, the documentary notes that Lynne believed her daughter was suffering from postpartum depression at the time. The media's unrelenting scrutiny only further contributed to Britney's erratic behaviour, which included shaving her head and smashing a photographer's window with an umbrella.