Pop star Justin Timberlake comes to former girlfriend Britney Spears’ defense and has asked people to “leave her alone”. The heartthrob singer leapt to Spears defense after photographs of her month-old baby Sean Preston were leaked and posted on the internet.

The 23-year-old singer said in an interview “It’s a little crazy.” He added, “When a person like her, who’s obviously a sweet person, is having their first child, its like, ‘leave the girl alone, let her have the baby!’”

Justin - who is currently romancing screen beauty Cameron Diaz - said the incident shows how the hunt for celebrity photos is out of control. He said, “I do think that’s crossing the line. That’s her baby and those are her baby pictures.”

Timberlake said that if people would try to exercise a little more patience with Spears chances are that in her own time, she will talk about her new baby. “At some point, you’re going to know about her son and get to see a picture,”.

Britney had reportedly already posed for snaps with husband Kevin Federline and their baby son for America’s People magazine in a deal reputedly worth millions. However, she allegedly “freaked out” the day after the shoot sobbing to her representative that she was “selling out her baby” and couldn’t give up the pictures. It’s these snaps that were leaked to the internet.

Last week Britney pulled the plug on a magazine deal to publish the first pictures of Sean Preston. Photos of Spears, husband Kevin Federline, and the couple’s baby son leaked onto the Internet but were removed within hours after the singer’s label, Jive Records, issued a statement threatening legal action.

“Anyone who publishes sells or otherwise exploits any of these images in any way will be subject to liability and damages for willful infringement of copyright, and will be liable for invasion of privacy.”

A message on the site where the photos were first posted, reads, “To Britney, Kevin, Sean, Jive Records, Sony BMG and anyone else I have affected by this, I am deeply sorry for any pain I have caused you.”