Sad Details About Jessica Biel's Life

While Jessica Biel is best known for her role as Mary Camden in the family drama "7th Heaven," that role never showcased how much depth she truly has as an actress. In 2012, she opened up about her early career and the difficulty she had getting the jobs she wanted. "I felt frustrated for a long time that my appearance was an issue and I wasn't being taken seriously at the beginning of my career," she told Contactmusic.com. "I crave something dark, deep and complicated when it comes to acting," she added. Though that didn't happen overnight, Biel did eventually tackle some more serious characters, even portraying the role of murderers in both the psychological thriller "The Sinner" and Hulu's miniseries "Candy."

Biel's ability to execute these roles shows a little bit about who she is and the pain she's gone through when the cameras are off. While she may look like she has the perfect Hollywood life and an idyllic marriage to Justin Timberlake, she has actually faced quite a lot of hardships dating back to her first few years in the spotlight. From a scary childbirth to marriage troubles, Jessica Biel has overcome a lot.

In March 2000, a 17-year-old Jessica Biel appeared on the cover of Gear magazine topless, with her arm strategically covering her chest. Because of her young age and TV role as the goody two-shoes eldest daughter of a minister on "7th Heaven," she received a lot of flack for the shoot, with The Washington Post referring to her cover as a "naked cry for attention." The Post further speculated that she purposefully posed for the photo so she would be offered more adult roles.

According to Biel, though, this wasn't some deceitful ploy orchestrated by Biel in order to advance her career, but rather a time when her youth was exploited. "This was one of the hardest times I went through in my whole entire life," she told IGN in 2012, explaining that she never intended to pose for such a racy image. "I got in a situation where I was encouraged. And I was not looked after by the people that I was working with," she said elsewhere.

When the pictures came out, Biel was mortified. "I was just bawling to my dad," she recounted. "I said, 'Dad, you need to get rid of this.'" Unfortunately, Biel's parents weren't with her at the time of the shoot to help prevent it. "Well, it says my dad and my mom were at the shoot, or whatever," she told IGN. "They weren't there. The actress also said she knows she's not alone. "I think this happens to so many girls," she said.

Justin Timberlake has a long list of controversies, and unfortunately, Jessica Biel has had to bear the brunt of her husband's wrongdoings more than once. In October 2023, Britney Spears made some surprising confessions in her memoir "The Woman In Me." She alleged that not only was Timberlake unfaithful to her during their relationship, but he also got her pregnant and then insisted she undergo an abortion, which she did. Fans immediately began attacking Timberlake on social media. However, when the NSYNC member turned off his Instagram comments, they began coming for Biel, per Page Six. "How can you still be married to a man who destroyed [their] ex-girlfriend's psychological well-being?" one person wrote in Biel's Instagram comments. Another added: 'I never understood what you saw in Justin." 

In June 2024, Timberlake was arrested on a driving while intoxicated (DWI) charge, and once again, Biel faced criticism for his actions, and their family was put in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. "Jessica is extremely upset," an insider told Us Weekly at the time. "She was shocked to hear the news and had no idea as she was working. She was really worried about him." Two months after his arrest, Biel posted photos of her cheering Timberlake at one of his concerts to Instagram, to which one person commented: "What a joke. Get him some help."

Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake have two sons together: Silas and Phineas. In 2015, when they welcomed the former, the actress had meticulously planned everything out to ensure that she would have a peaceful natural childbirth at home. However, that quickly went out the window. In "The Nannie Connie Way: Secrets to Mastering the First Four Months of Parenthood," Biel shared their story. "When all our plans fell apart and the serene, natural childbirth we had envisioned ended with a transfer to the hospital and an emergency C-section, we arrived home exhausted, disillusioned, and totally in shock," she wrote.

Biel admitted that she had gone overboard with trying to perfect Silas' arrival, noting she "was obsessed with everything organic, toxin-free, natural, and homeopathic for our kid." But welcoming your child into the world via C-section can be a harrowing experience and should not be taken lightly. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association (via Behaviour Research and Therapy) classifies an emergency C-section as a "psychologically traumatic event for the mother." Fortunately, both Biel and Silas seemed to be okay after the emergency surgery, but it likely was very stressful for Biel.

Although Jessica Biel traded in her high school experience for a spot as a series regular on "7th Heaven," she seemed determined to get a college education once she was 18. In 2000, she enrolled at Tufts University and lost her status as a full-time cast member on the show. Unfortunately, the timing was not ideal, and school was interfering too heavily with her career. She told Deseret News in 2001 how awkward it was when filming the credits for "7th Heaven" that year and she was asked to leave the family dinner table so they could get a shot without her. "I got up and no one else got up," she said. "And everyone looked really confused, and it was just bad. I actually called my mother crying."

This all led up to Biel dropping out of Tufts after a year and a half so she could film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." But she wasn't exactly thrilled with her decision. In 2009, she told Allure magazine (via the Irish Examiner) that she regrets never finishing school and prioritizing her career. "I wish I would have had that time that my girlfriends all had," she said. "I wish I would have lived in that crappy, nasty brownstone that they all lived in. If I had to do it again, I would have stuck around and finished it out."

Since Jessica Biel got with Justin Timberlake in 2007, there have been multiple instances where rumors started swirling that he had cheated on her. The first was in September 2010 when Us Weekly claimed that Timberlake had an affair with actress Olivia Munn while away from Biel, who was his girlfriend at the time. They stayed together, but the following year they broke up amidst claims that Timberlake had gotten flirty with his "Friends With Benefits" co-star Mila Kunis. However, a source later told People that the rumors regarding Kunis didn't cause their split. Biel and Timberlake reconciled months later and married in 2012.

But in 2019, Timberlake became the subject of cheating rumors again. While filming "Palmer" in New Orleans, photos began circulating of him and costar Alisha Wainwright holding hands at a bar. Wainwright was also pictured placing her hand on his knee. A source told Us Weekly at the time that they were "just friends" and "nothing inappropriate" occurred. Timberlake later issued an apology in a now-deleted Instagram post for his behavior and "strong lapse of judgment," maintaining that nothing happened between him and Wainwright. "I apologize to my amazing wife and family for putting them through such an embarrassing situation, and I am focusing on being the best husband and father I can be. This was not that," he wrote.