Jessica Biel faces ‘tricky’ dilemma raising two sons with Justin Timberlake: ‘Scary every time’

Jessica Biel is still figuring out how to strike a balance between protecting her and Justin Timberlake’s two kids from the media and allowing them to live their lives.

The “7th Heaven” alum admitted to the “tricky balance” while reflecting on her decision to bring her eldest son, 10-year-old Silas, to the 2024 US Open.

“It’s a tricky one, a tricky balance. We do really try hard not to expose them in a way that they’re not comfortable with,” Biel said of Silas and their younger son, 4-year-old Phineas, in an interview with InStyle published Monday.

The “Valentine’s Day” actress, 43, explained that Silas — who was 9 when they went to the Queens, NY-based match — is a “huge fan” of tennis and an avid player of the sport.

Biel said she had a conversation with Silas to make sure that he understood they would be stepping into the spotlight if they attended the tournament together.

“We had this opportunity, and we talked about it. We talked about photographers. You know, ‘Are you comfortable with that?'” Biel recalled. “He can’t make these decisions on his own, but at this point, we can at least discuss what’s his opinion around it.”

While they went back and forth over their options, they ultimately decided that it was better to go and deal with the media attention than for Silas to miss out on an event he would love.

“You really want to give your kids every experience,” she said. “I don’t know if it was the right decision, to be honest with you, but he and I had a good time.”

Biel said that exposing her children to potentially being publicly scrutinized is “scary every time.”

“But it’s also their life. And so it’s this really tricky, tricky thing to figure out, what’s appropriate,” she said.

While she doesn’t want to hold her children back from enjoying exciting adventures, she is definitely set on keeping them off social media for as long as possible. And if they want to follow in their parents’ footsteps by chasing a career in the entertainment biz, she hopes it will be later in life

“If he was a kid actor, he’d probably work all the time,” Biel said of Silas, expressing her desire for him to focus on enjoying his childhood before starting a Hollywood career.

“And when you’re 18 years old, you want to be a professional? Have at it,” she encouraged. “That’s your choice. That’s what I would like to hold on to, if possible, for him, you know?”

Biel and the “SexyBack” singer, who tied the knot in 2012, are known for keeping their children under the radar. But in a change of pace, the mom of two brought Silas to the US Open last August.

The mother-son duo smiled in the stands at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as they watched Karolina Muchova beat Naomi Osaka in the second round.

At the time, there was a media frenzy surrounding the actress as her husband, 44, was arrested for driving while intoxicated just two months prior.

Biel, who doesn’t post her kids’ faces on social media, previously explained why she wants to shield her kids from tabloid attention.

“We get hammered [by the paparazzi] in the West Coast. That’s why we don’t live there anymore to try and create some normalcy,” she shared on a May 2024 episode of the “Let’s Talk Off Camera” podcast.

“No disrespect to anyone who feels comfortable doing that,” she added. “That’s just our family choice. Maybe it’s a mistake. I don’t know.”