Piper

"The third album, because I'd been writing while on the tour and I took a little time out, I had more time to work on the material and I think what came out was the most personal stuff I'd ever written. It was uncomfortably personal at times, if I'm honest. I mean there's stuff I wrote that was too personal for me to actually get past recording the demos. But the overall sound was more chilled out, there were more mid tempo songs and it was very guitar influenced, I laid off the synthesisers a little!"

JC Chasez, singer and *NSYNC member

"I remember at the time, she and I were exchanging notes on various songs we were both recording and some of the stuff she showed me was… I mean, it was very affecting, it was emotional stuff. It was brilliant of course, because everybody knows I think she's brilliant, but it was definitely a change of direction for her, there were less of those huge dance numbers on there."

Barry Weiss, President Jive Records

"When Piper was writing the third album she was in a much more reflective mood, and the music she was coming out with was very thoughtful and introspective. We did worry that the album was a little too mid tempo, so we had to compromise with her on getting a few more upbeat numbers in there and there was a little bit of pushing and pulling, but once we hit the right mix we became very excited about the change in direction for her, we thought it showed off some of her versatility."

Justin, The Late Show February 2006

Justin: "Yeah, yeah I listened to it. I think it's a great album, you know… she's a very talented songwriter and she's showing off a different side of herself… and I think it just shows off how good she is that she can do that so authentically and without sounding like she's just chopping and changing styles for the hell of it."
David Letterman: "Well, that's good, that's good that you can say nice things like that about your ex girlfriend."
Justin: "Well I know people don't want to believe it, but we parted on good terms and, you know, me breaking up with her doesn't suddenly make her a crappy musician, Dave!"

First single Had About Enough hit the top five on the Billboard Charts and in the UK, and the album went to number one in its first week of release, although the numbers weren't as big as the debuts for her previous album.

Johnny Wright, manager

"Oh we weren't worried about numbers. People forget to take into account that the industry changes; nobody was selling numbers as big as they used to, with the advent of downloading and so on. She had a number one album, it went platinum very quickly and we were entirely happy with the business she was doing."

Maggie

"It's all just numbers, if you ask me. I see the way these kids light up when they get to see her show or meet her at a mall, and that's never changed."

Naturally, there was speculation about the more melancholy lyrical content, and whether it was about Justin.

Piper

"It's funny, people thought the second single was about Justin, Hold Out Your Hand, they thought Alone In My Bed was about Justin… and I mean I guess the fact I was going through heartbreak at the time made me preoccupied with it, but the two songs on the record that I honestly had Justin on the brain when I was writing them, nobody ever picked up on. And no I'm not telling you which ones!"

Justin

"Okay, I admit it. I listened to that album and half of me was wondering if anything was about me. I ain't gon' lie."

Other speculation came from Wade Robson's seeming defection to *NSYNC, and the fact that other choreographers were working with Piper; the media asked if Wade had taken Justin's side.

Wade

"That annoyed me. A lot. I committed to *NSYNC first, simple as that. She and I never had a problem over that, she knew I was her best friend always and forever, but the media tried to make it into something it wasn't. I would never have jeopardised my friendships with Justin or Piper… he and I just had an understanding that I was her confidant and I didn't want to be in the middle of the two of them. We all totally respected each other's friendships and it was never a problem. Besides, it's good to work with somebody else once in a while. I still did her tour."

Soon, it came time for Piper to start touring to promote the new material - but instead of heading out on her own solo tour, MTV had other ideas. They wanted Piper to join their summer Headliners tour, where she would share the stage with a number of other acts, who would compete over the summer for the audience's votes and the grand prize of headlining their Summer Blowout show, which would be beamed worldwide. Other acts on the tour included Taye Shakari, X Rated, Frankenstein's Child… and unknown to Piper, *NSYNC.

Marc Jacobs, fan site webmaster

"There was a lot of speculation when they announced that line up. They'd always said they were friends, but then everybody always says that. Some fans wondered if it was them trying to prove a point or put up a front."

The truth was a little less scandalous - the two being placed on the tour together was a complete accident.

Johnny Wright

"I'm still not quite sure how that happened, but Piper didn't even know until the first production meeting where she walked in and found the guys there. There was some miscommunication between myself and the colleague I had on the job with Piper, and before you know it we've signed contracts for both. I wasn't worried, because I knew everybody was still friends, but I was aware it was going to be awkward."

Lance Bass, *NSYNC member

"Boy that was awkward. On the one hand we were excited because we got to spend the whole summer with her and we hadn't seen her in so long, but on the other… it was awkward for them both."

Justin

"The last thing you wanna do is spend an entire summer living in each other's pockets with your ex, but we didn't have much of a choice, so we kind of started talking on the phone again and trying to get used to talking and being around each other again before we made it really awkward for everybody else on the tour."

Lynn Harless

"I admit it. I was hoping they'd spend some time together and make it up!"

The world would be watching closely for signs of a reconciliation, but in the meantime the Headliners tour kicked off in Virginia. With five major acts to choose from, almost every show was a sell out. But while the public was watching for signs of tension between Piper and her ex, they were completely unaware of tension of another kind sparking between her and another young singer on the tour, tensions which remained hidden until the girl in question gave a tell all interview to magazine US Weekly.

Rachel Rodriguez, Rolling Stone magazine

"Much as been made of the feud between Piper and Shalique, who was at the time the lead singer of X Rated, and Shalique has certainly spared no details from her side of the story but Piper has always maintained a steady silence on the matter, except to refuse any responsibility for stealing Faye Johnson from the group. But they were both compared together in the media long before that and I think there's always been a competitiveness there, particularly from Shalique's side, and even more so now Shalique has gone solo and she and Piper are competing more directly."

JC Chasez

"They clashed from the get go. Being cooped up together that long, some tension was bound to happen."

Piper

"Shalique was rude to me from the start, so I was rude to her. I thought she was a diva and I didn't like her attitude, she thought I was arrogant and acted like Miss Thang or whatever, and… well, there was other stuff, but I have no desire to go into it except to say she did things that really did not endear her to me."

Faye Johnson, singer and former member of X Rated

"Shalique blamed Piper for me leaving the group, when the fact is all Piper did was give me the confidence to do what I had been wanting to do for a very long time. She and I clicked quickly, I was feeling estranged from my group and she was there for me at a time when I really needed a friend, she encouraged me musically… but she didn't put any ideas in my head. It was all me."

Lance Bass

"Believe me, I was in that room when that famous catfight happened, and no matter what Shalique says Piper did not just lash out at her. No, I can't tell you why it happened, but she was provoked, seriously provoked, and Shalique did her own share of damage so… yeah, they're both at fault there, but Shalique certainly wasn't the innocent victim she made out she was."

Piper

"We did briefly come to blows. I'm not proud of it. It's not something I've ever done before or since… but there's no way in hell I'm taking the blame. We both behaved badly, and trying to make out like I attacked her out of nowhere is a lie and she knows it. She's as responsible as I am."

But things were still looking up for Piper - she was doing consistently well in the polls for the Headliners tour, dominating the race alongside *NSYNC, her next single Understood hit number one in the UK, Australia and Germany, and an old flame was starting to rekindle.

Joey Fatone

"We were all spending a lot of time hanging out, with all that travelling you don't have much else to do but hang out and talk, and I think they were just still feeling the spark and even though a lot of time had passed they didn't feel like they loved each other any less. When you're apart that long, neither of you are over it and there's still that chemistry, you do start questioning whether you really were just a dumb ass for ending it!"

JC Chasez

"Man, we'd been saying between ourselves for months that them breaking up was stupid when they were that crazy about each other, it was about time!"

Justin

"Without telling you what was said and what happened, because I really think that's private…being around her so much, trying to just be friends with her… it was difficult. It was great to be spending time together because I'd missed her so much, missed her as a friend as well as my ex, but at the same time it was weird because we'd always been together, and trying to keep that boundary between us was just not working. And… I mean, God, she's beautiful, and I was looking at her everyday and remembering that she used to be with me and the more time I spent with her the less I remembered why we broke up."

Piper

"No I'm not telling you exactly when it happened! What I will say, I think it boiled down to the fact that we'd been broken up a good long while, long enough to be getting over that initial panic about nobody else ever loving you again and all that… and it was still like we'd never been apart. I still got shivery when he walked into a room and I was still as in love with him as I ever was. And it got to the point where it was like, okay, we were miserable and that's why we ended it, but we're now even more miserable because we're apart… maybe it's worth trying to fix things instead of just staying apart, because choosing this path certainly hasn't made us any happier."

Lynn Harless

"Oh, I swear I could have cried tears of joy when he told me they were back together. It was such a relief, because he had just not been the same since they'd broken up, they just put that little bounce in each other's step, you know what I mean?"

The golden couple was back together, but they attempted to keep their rekindled romance under wraps as they tried to work it out. But the tabloids' favourite couple quickly found they could not escape the long lens of the media, and their romance was quickly exposed as back on.

Rob Jackman, US Weekly magazine

"Of course, this is the stuff of a journalist's dreams. Everybody was speculating over how it had happened, especially since there were a million theories as to why they broke up in the first place, and everybody wanted the scoop although of course neither of them would give it out. They both have this way of answering your question without really giving you any details - they were happy to say that they had been miserable without each other, felt that being apart wasn't working, but to this day nobody knows how or when or why this all came to be, or if they do they're not telling."

Justin

"As usual, it was paparazzi in the bushes. Somebody got pictures of us and sold them, and, you know, if there's a ton of pictures of me kissing her in the papers I can't really deny something's going on. I could try, but I'd just be making myself look pretty god damn stupid!"

Piper

"Justin likes to joke it's my fault, because the giveaway was the fact you could see this tattoo that I'd got after we'd broken up, and that everybody knew I'd got it after, otherwise we could have at least have tried to pretend they were old!"

Justin

"It was a relief in a way, that it was out in the open, because after that at least we didn't have to hide it and I didn't have to refrain from hugging my own girlfriend if I felt like it, but I was annoyed that somebody else took it upon themselves to make that decision for us. I also copped some flack for this one picture where I had my hands in her back pockets, but I figure everybody's just jealous that I'm the only guy around who gets to put my hands near that butt. That's Piper Tenshaw's cute little butt and I'm the guy. I feel no shame."

Piper

"I cared at the time because I was still so wary of it all falling apart and getting my heart broken again, but now I figure whoever it was did us a favour."

Now the couple had officially confirmed they were back together, everything seemed to have come full circle for Piper. She created more headlines as the FHM magazine photo shoot she did with the girls from X Rated put her on the cover of one of FHM's top ten selling issues, a complete sell out, and later credited for winning her the number one spot on the magazine's annual hottest women poll.

Justin

"I have that picture blown up huge and framed in my study. She. Hates. It. Every time she goes in there she covers it up, because she's learned that taking it down doesn't work. I'm going to be boasting about that picture until the day I die, because that's my woman looking like the hottest thing ever. That's the hottest woman on the planet and I got her. I will never get sick of gloating about that. EV-er."

Piper

"I only did that shoot because MTV arranged it and Johnny and Liz, my PA, couldn't get me out of it. I hated every second. I've done them for fashion magazines where I've been… I guess pretty scantily clad, but I just find baring myself that way for other women more comfortable than knowing that guys are going to be looking at it. And I really wish Justin would just let it go, and I don't know why he won't because he'd been dating me for years before that, it wasn't like he hadn't seen me in a swim suit! He's kinda stupid like that, I forget why I married him!"

Marc Jacobs

"The fans were surprised she'd done the shoot, given what she's said in the past about feeling uncomfortable, but I was surprised how many of the e-mails I got about it were from girls saying how much they liked it. I get lots of e-mails with opinions every time she does one of these big magazines, but I was surprised how much girls seemed to like the shots and think she looked hot, because you might have figured they'd think it was too much or just playing up to guys."

The Headliners tour finished in August, and Piper was expected to travel to Europe to promote her album and final single in person, since she'd been unable to visit for previous singles die to the tour. However, Piper had a surprise in store - at the very last moment, she backed out on her commitments and disappeared.

Johnny Wright

"We were livid. We had a lot of angry European promoters and journalists asking where she was, and we were unimpressed with her to say the least… but… she was tired, she'd burnt herself out after three albums and four years of non stop work… now I understand why she needed the break, but at the time I was about ready to kill her with my bare hands. Justin too."

Wade

"She was exhausted. She'd been working too hard for too long, the same burnout she had during Enter The Circus was back, she'd been through a lot emotionally with Justin… she needed the break. I was actually kind of proud of her, though I really shouldn't admit that where Jive Records can hear me!"

Nobody knew where she had gone, and although the press speculated about the reasons for the sudden disappearance, nobody guessed the amazing truth until months later when the happy couple confessed all: Piper Tenshaw had run away to a remote Caribbean island, and had become Piper Timberlake.

Piper

"We did not elope. At least I don't think it counts as eloping…"

Justin

"Come on, look at her. Who wouldn't want to marry her?"

Lynn Harless

"I can't tell you anything about the wedding, but it was really simple and beautiful and I swear it was lovely, she looked lovely and the whole thing was just beautiful. Oh, I'm getting choked up now just thinking about it! And like I said, I got what I wanted, she calls me Mom now!"

Ben Houghton, cousin

"I can't tell you anything, I wasn't invited! No, they went away and they just had a really small wedding, and then they came back and broke the news to us and they had this huge party to celebrate with everybody else. None of us were annoyed or anything, I remember my mom saying she was just happy they'd had a totally private day."

Lance Bass

"We all just got called out to the Caribbean, we see Justin there who had run out on us with no explanation, and he just tells us that we're there for his wedding. It was crazy, our jaws all just hit the floor."

Maggie

"It was very quiet, very private, just Piper and Justin, the parents, their grandparents and about eight or nine of their friends, that was it. I was delighted, very surprised but delighted, and it was just nice that they have that day for themselves and they didn't have to take all these elaborate measures like security guards and tunnels and feeding the press false information or anything like that. It was their day, as it should be, and I don't think my daughter's ever looked so beautiful, I was prouder of her than I've ever been. I was a proud momma!"

Piper

"After you go through that much and you still come out of it together and stronger and still happy and as in love as ever, you know it's right. And I just like being Mrs Timberlake - I think I'm going to have to keep Tenshaw as a stage name, but all my credit card slips get signed Piper Timberlake these days."

Justin

"I love her, I learned from my mistakes and I didn't want to ever let her go again, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her, so I asked her to marry me. And when she said yes, I'm telling you, 2.4 million records in a week ain't such a big deal any more. There's no feeling like it."

Since her marriage, Piper has been taking a break from the spotlight, concentrating instead on her charitable ventures and as she puts it, just being a wife.

Piper

"It's taken a while for everything to settle down but I finally feel like I'm in a place where everything is as it should be, and I couldn't be happier. Really don't think I could be any happier. And I'm happy to finally take a break and stop to smell the roses for a while. I've been working towards something all my life, and now I have it and I just want to take a second to look around and appreciate what I've achieved. Plus, you know, I'm only a newlywed once, I'd like to spend some time with my husband before I got jetting off again."

Barry Weiss

"She has a talent that I think has made her last where other pop acts don't, and that I think will continue to allow her to do that. She'll always be able to come back with something fresh and current, and I won't be surprised if she has the kind of career Madonna has, in terms of longevity. There will be a place for her in the industry and on our label, when she decides she's ready."

Justin

"What does Piper do when she's not working? Hangs out with me a lot, we've been decorating the new place we bought in LA together, and she's been doing some more hands on stuff with her charity, which is The Piper Tenshaw Foundation, which raises money for cancer research, obviously in kind of a tribute to her father."

Wade

"It's been cool, actually, she always organised this big charity auction ever year to raise money, but she and I actually went around some of the clinics and research facilities she's helping fund and saw some of the patients and stuff, and it's nice to really see what you're doing it all for. I think Jonathan, wherever he is, is probably busting with pride right about now."

Maggie

"It's nice, I've got to spend a lot more time with her! She's been good, she and Justin have been taking some vacations and seeing the places they visited but never got to explore properly, and they've been fixing up their house. I think marriage suits them, they both seem more rested and content than they have in a long while."

Justin

"People see my wife being the workaholic she is and assume that she's deathly serious all the time, but what they don't see behind the scenes is how sweet she is. She's just a kind person, she's got this real wicked sense of humour and she's always ready to laugh at herself and to just go out and have some fun. We go out to ball games and the movies and on dates just like any regular couple, and we're just having a real good time being normal for a change!"

Piper

"People think our lives are exciting because they see us in nice restaurants or clubs or whatever, but they couldn't be more wrong because we're so boring! People think it must be glamorous two musicians being married but we fight over the dishes same as anybody else, you know?"

But don't think she won't be back - Mrs Timberlake has no plans to hang up her microphone for good.

Piper

"I'm only in my mid twenties, don't count me out so quick! I will be coming back, though I don't know how I'm going to be coming back yet. I won't know until I really start sitting down and putting an album together, but that's the exciting part, you know, building something new and fresh."

Joey Fatone

"She couldn't give it up if she tried. Oh, wait, she did try… and look how that turned out!"

Marc Jacobs

"I think the fans will wait. They miss her now, they jump on even the smallest sighting of her these days, but at the same time they're happy to see her happy. And she's always been real good about giving autographs and really polite to anybody who comes up to her even when they probably shouldn't be interrupting, and I think fans reward that with loyalty, they don't forget it when they meet a celebrity who's nice to them."

Rachel Rodriguez, Rolling Stone magazine

"Clearly she has a loyal fan base, and if the media coverage is anything to go by she's still a very sellable commodity. If she keeps her finger on the pulse the way she has in the past, and she keeps finding ways to bring change things up the way her previous albums have, I would lay odds on it being like she never left. I don't foresee any problems with her coming back."

Johnny Wright

"She'll be back. She'll be back and I look forward to it, because that girl is a talent and I genuinely enjoy representing her."

Justin

"The wifey will be back, she will as usual come out with something amazing and I look forward to being the one tagging along behind her for a change!"

"I think music is an expression of our deepest feelings and the best music comes from whatever's in your heart at that moment. Right now I'm just so content, I'm honestly so happy with everything that's happening to me right now, and I can't wait to see what music comes out of that."