Actor Rachel Bilson says she once tried ― and failed ― to charm pop star Justin Timberlake back in the early 2000s.
The star of “The O.C.” explained how things went awry during an episode of the “Broad Ideas With Rachel Bilson” podcast, where she gently blamed co-host and fellow actor Olivia Allen for ruining her chances with the “Bye Bye Bye” singer.
“In our day, [Timberlake] was very big, right?” Bilson said. “Like the biggest. Sorry, no disrespect — he’s still very big. We were all at a party or something, and he was there, and I was so obsessed with him.”
Allen remembered Timberlake being drawn to her pal, explaining, “We were kicking it with him. We were making friends with him. [Bilson] went up to him, obviously, or he came up to [her].”
Allen recalled that she was fueled by a little too much liquid courage, saying she “got drunk and embarrassed” herself while trying to get JT’s attention.
“You want the truth. I was drunk and I [sat] in between them,” she revealed. “I was just drunk and wanted to keep talking to him.”
“There was no room. Olivia planted herself [between us], squeezed herself [in],” Bilson remembered.
Allen joked about being a bad wing-woman, telling her friend, “He wasn’t mad at me. You might have been.”
Bilson and Timberlake didn’t end up being a match. The singer went on to marry actor Jessica Biel in 2012.
Bilson was involved with ex-fiancé Hayden Christensen on and off for over a decade until calling off their engagement in 2017.
Listen to the full podcast episode here.