Los Angeles, Aug 19 (IANS): Singer Justin Timberlake says his sufferings post separating with singer Britney Spears inspired his songwriting.

The 35-year-old churned out the song “Cry Me A River” in 2002 after suffering from depression post split with Spears, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"It depends. In the past, suffering helped me write. 'Cry Me a River' was written in a moment of pain, and the whole world knew,” Vanity Fair Italia quoted Timberlake as saying.

The video of the song features Timberlake getting revenge with his ex, a Spears lookalike, as he films himself in her home with another woman.

Francis Lawrence, who directed the video, previously said: "Justin and I had a conversation on the phone and all he said was he wanted to have some dancing in it, but to do my thing. He told me what the song was about, but in a general way as well.”

“He just said it was a kiss-off song and so I came up with this idea and he went for it,” Lawrence added.