NEW YORK — Justin Timberlake blames celebrity magazines for turning his personal life into juicy gossip fodder.

“I despise what they do,” the 26-year-old singer tells Details magazine in an interview in its April issue. “They create soap operas out of people’s lives. ... It’s a spin game, and I choose not to take part in it.”

That includes not dishing any dirt about former girlfriends Britney Spears and Cameron Diaz.

“I would never say anything bad about anyone. I love a lot of those people,” says Timberlake, whose latest album is “FutureSex/LoveSounds.”

Diaz and Timberlake, who had dated since 2003, confirmed their split in January. Timberlake’s relationship with Spears ended in 2002. They were a high-profile couple for three years.

“I tried so hard to be an R&B artist and it was the pop album of the year. ... That’s the last thing I wanted,” Timberlake says. “But I was like, ‘So everyone considers me a pop artist? ... I’m going to do whatever I want to do.”’

Timberlake took home a trophy as favorite male singer Saturday night in the raucous, slime-drenched 20th Annual Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards on Viacom International Inc.’s Nickelodeon channel.

The show began with Timberlake descending from the ceiling on a large orange Nickelodeon blimp and breaking into a Broadway show tune in which he taunted the audience, saying he was too famous to be slimed.

“You’ll never get a drop of slime on old J.T.,” he sang.

By the end of the song, of course, he had been drenched in the green goo.