Heavy/Getty Nikki DeLoach and Justin Timberlake in October 2022
Though Nikki DeLoach has been close friends with pop star Justin Timberlake since their days on “The Mickey Mouse Club” together, the Hallmark star says her 10-year-old son Hudson was blown away seeing “Uncle Justin” perform for the first time on March 13, 2024.
Timberlake performed a free show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles to promote his upcoming album, “Everything I Thought It Was,” according to Variety, and it included a surprise reunion with his NSYNC bandmates. In a series of Instagram Stories that DeLoach shared the following morning, she said Hudson was “in shock” seeing Timberlake rock the stage.
Here’s what you need to know:
Nikki DeLoach Shares Videos From Justin Timberlake’s Free Los Angeles Show
In her Instagram Stories on March 14, DeLoach shared videos she took while in the audience at Timberlake’s concert, as well as several of her and Hudson jamming out to his songs.
“First time Hudson saw Uncle Justin do his thing,” she wrote over a video of her son staring wide-eyed as Timberlake performed onstage. “He spent the first 30 minutes in shock.”
Over a video of Timberlake singing his new single, “Selfish,” DeLoach wrote, “One of my favs ❤️”
DeLoach also captured footage of a surprise duet between Timberlake and CoCo Jones, writing, “And then THIS HAPPENED and I came undone. Love you @cocojones”
But the biggest surprise of the night came when the curtains opened to reveal Timberlake’s former NSYNC bandmates, performing together for the first time since 2013, according to Variety.
Over her footage of the historic moment, DeLoach wrote, “And then THIS HAPPENED AND EVERYONE CAME UNDONE.”
“Including Hudson,” DeLoach continued on the next slide. “Big @nsync fan.”
In fact, she also posted a video of Hudson and her singing along word-for-word to NYSNC’s 2000 hit, “It’s Gonna Be Me.”
To wrap up her Instagram Stories about the concert, DeLoach wrote, “So proud of you @justintimberlake. Huge congrats on such a special night. Cannot wait for everyone to hear this album. It’s everything we thought it was…and much more (see what I did there 😆)”
Nikki DeLoach & Justin Timberlake Consider Each Other ‘Chosen Family’
DeLoach and Timberlake have been friends since they were kids, even before they were both cast on “The Mickey Mouse Club.” Their families have remained close through the years, so it makes sense that her kids would think of the pop superstar as “Uncle Justin.”
“We met at the casting camp before we were ever on the show,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. It was 24 of us at the camp and we were the first to meet each other. We instantly became best buddies, like brother and sister, and we have been brother and sister ever since.”
“His mother has been like a second mother to me,” DeLoach continued. “I’ve lived with her for chunks of time in my life. We’re just chosen family and I’m so honored because he’s always been there any time I’ve needed him and I’ve always been there when he needed me.”
DeLoach recruited Timberlake to headline a 2022 fundraiser for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where her youngest son has been a heart patient since his birth. During his set, Timberlake referenced called DeLoach his “sister from another mister,” according to THR.
“I’m humbled and I’m honored to be here tonight,” Timberlake told the sold-out crowd of 1,300. “And if you guys ever want me back to sing for my supper, you know how to get me — just call Nikki.”
The NSYNC reunion was a blast from the past for DeLoach, who dated JC Chasez as a teen, she told The Retaility, and graduated from high school with Lance Bass, given that they were working with the same tutor for child actors.
“It was some of the greatest years of my life doing that show,” she said. “One of my favorite memories is in Orlando during a certain time of the year the skies open up and it pours rain for thirty minutes straight. Justin and I would go outside and dance in the rain and stomp in mud puddles and twirl around and get soaking wet. Not on shooting days of course. But on all the other days.”
Timberlake’s new album was released on March 15, marking his first album since 2018. DeLoach, meanwhile, stars in her next “Curious Caterer” movie will premiere later this year on Hallmark Mystery.