The Complicated Life of Pop Superstar Justin Timberlake

In December 2011, he proposed to Jessica Biel, moving their relationship from a long-running romance into an engagement. After their brief split earlier that year, the proposal suggested that the couple had come back together with a clearer future in mind.

The engagement changed how people saw their relationship. It was no longer just another celebrity romance with tabloid pressure and breakup rumors. Biel was becoming the person most closely tied to his adult life, and their next step would make that connection official.