Being famous seems like a headache. Sure, the riches that tend to come with it are great. But the lack of privacy seems like a taxing toll on the mind. People get a little faker, they want something from you— friends become few and far between.
Justin Timberlake knows this sensation too well, performing in front of cameras while he was barely a teenager. Then, he joined *NSYNC, where he became deeply familiar with how fake and phony people in the music industry could be.
When the band sued their former manager, Lou Pearlman—like their contemporaries, the Backstreet Boys—Justin Timberlake said he could see through lies a lot more, even if that meant being a little paranoid.
Justin Timberlake Talks about His Feelings of Paranoia Early on In His Career.
“Yeah, well, I’ve been doing it long enough, haven’t I? Your bulls**t meter is tuned in. You become adept at knowing what someone’s intentions are,” Timberlake told The Guardian in 2011. “It’s always going to be a misunderstanding at first, good or bad. I can’t control what impression people have of me, what little thing they have seen me do.”
All of this came with its fair share of overcompensating, though. Sometimes, it would lead to him bending over backwards to try to ease the tension. Other times, his paranoia would take over accordingly.
“Sometimes I used to break my neck to try and make people feel disarmed because I didn’t like it that they were so nervous or excited around me. Other times, I would misinterpret that [behaviour], especially if there were cameras around. I’d think: this isn’t real, and I would act up,” JT explained.
JT keeps his ‘Bulls**t’ meter fine-tuned
Eventually, Justin Timberlake got with the program and saw that these things come with the lifestyle of a celebrity. In exchange for the fame and adoration, there’s going to be a slight unease with those around him and his audience. That’s why he relies on that “bulls**t meter” so much.
“There’s a lot of acceptance [involved]… There are always going to be people who have a connection with you that’s not based on who you really are, but on what you do. Once you separate that out for yourself, you’re more comfortable. What I do is a piece of who I am, but it’s not all. I’m a son, at some point maybe I’ll be a boyfriend again, I’m a friend, I’m a nephew, I’m a grandson. I’m all those things,” Justin Timberlake stressed.
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