Justin Timberlake celebrates 40th birthday promising ‘it’s only up from here’

He was the Mouseketeer who became a pop sensation and award-winning actor, marrying one of Hollywood’s leading ­ladies along the way.

But as Justin Timberlake turns 40 on Sunday, he reckons things can only go “uphill from here”.

Access: Justin Timberlake from ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’ to Superstardom +29 images

The star is planning a quiet celebration with his wife Jessica Biel, 38, and two children at their sprawling Montana home.

“I’m excited”, he says. “I’m going to keep low expectations, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be better than my 39th year. It’s only uphill, baby”.

Justin shot to fame as a child in The Mickey Mouse Club, where he starred alongside Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling and his future bandmate, JC Chasez.

In 1995, when he was just 14, Justin teamed up with JC to form NSYNC, which went on to become one of the most successful boybands of their generation.

Justin shot to fame as a child in The Mickey Mouse Club, where he starred alongside Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling and his future bandmate, JC Chasez.

In 1995, when he was just 14, Justin teamed up with JC to form NSYNC, which went on to become one of the most successful boybands of their generation.

The group notched up more than 70 million global sales and got to perform at the Oscars, the Olympics and the Super Bowl.

But it was Justin’s relationship with former co-star Britney Spears which propelled him to super-stardom.

The pair dated for three years before calling it quits in 2002.

Justin hinted that Britney, 39, cheated on him in hit song Cry Me A River by featuring a lookalike being unfaithful in the music video.

The pair never confirmed or denied the rumours, but Justin later said:

“The break-up was absolutely heartbreaking for me. I can’t just have ­meaningless relationships with women. I have to find Miss Right in order to have a relationship.

“There’s got to be that big moment when she comes along”.

Justin — who is said to be worth an estimated £180million — went on to launch a successful solo career with his debut album Justified selling 10 million copies worldwide.

THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB with T J Fantini, Tate Lynche, Ryan Gosling, Nikki Deloach, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake – 1989He released four more albums before fulfilling his dream of becoming a Hollywood actor.

Justin has since appeared in hit films Alpha Dog, The Social Network, Inside Llewyn Davis, and animated movie smash, Trolls.

Of his career transformations, Justin said: “I am truly grateful because I feel like I have had the greatest teachers along the way.

He released four more albums before fulfilling his dream of becoming a Hollywood actor.

Justin has since appeared in hit films Alpha Dog, The Social Network, Inside Llewyn Davis, and animated movie smash, Trolls.

Of his career transformations, Justin said: “I am truly grateful because I feel like I have had the greatest teachers along the way.

“A lot of time, I’ve made choices in my career and it’s been met with, ‘You’ve got a good thing going, why would you want to do that?’

“And it’s because I just always loved all of the arts. I also grew up idolising guys like Gene Kelly and Sinatra — guys that were in an era of Hollywood where you did it all.

“That’s what it meant to be able to be an actor, it was to be able to dance and sing as well”.

Justin’s Mickey Mouse Club co-star Ryan Gosling was nominated for an Oscar for 2016’s La La Land — and Justin hopes to one day follow suit.

He said: “I feel like we might have a window in Hollywood and entertainment where those things can be a little more synonymous. It would be great to craft a whole thing”.

As Justin’s career took off, he had a relationship with A-list actress Cameron Diaz and was also linked to Spice Girl Emma Bunton. But it was Jessica Biel who would capture his heart.

Recalling when he first met The Sinner actress, Justin once said: “We were at a speakeasy kind of a bar, a private club, and we were standing around in a group of people.

“I made some sort of sarcastic comment, really dry. Nobody got it except her.

“She laughed, and I noticed, all of a sudden, and in the way where you ­wonder if a person’s like you, if they have a very dry, dark sense of humour, too.

“We talked that night. The DJ played Lucky Star and we danced. And then she was gone.

“We were both still seeing other ­people, keeping ourselves safe from ­getting hurt, from really putting ourselves out there.

“It took a bit for both of us to admit to ourselves that were really, really that into each other. When I came back from tour, we spent a month together.

After that, I said, ‘I really want to be exclusive’. And, somehow, she said, ‘So do I'”.

The pair married in 2012 at a ceremony in Puglia, Italy.

Their son, Silas Randall Timberlake, was born in 2015 while second son Phineas arrived last year. Despite having so much fame and fortune around them, Justin hopes his boys can have a normal childhood.

He recently said: “I try to be conscious of making sure we can live a life where we’re not weirdly private but we’re conscious of making sure they can be kids for as long as possible.

“And not have the weight of somebody else treating them differently because of something that their parents do”.

And, as he gears up for a quiet birthday celebration at home, many of Justin’s fans will be getting ready tocelebrate the milestone birthday, too.

Talking about his supporters with US host Dax Shepard, Justin said: “They are almost 40. I have been really lucky to have some opportunities that have allowed me to have an exchange with people that are my age.

“I am grateful to have these moments where you find a song that you wrote helped somebody through something, or they saw a performance of yours. It’s really cool”.

Irish Mirror