Justin Timberlake might be itching to get out of his relationship with Jessica Biel, if gossip amongst their friends is correct. Even though the couple just purchased a $2.9 million duplex in Manhattan, it seems things aren’t exactly solid between the two – at least on Justin’s end. Jessica is reportedly desperate to keep him.

We’ve heard rumblings about Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel splitting before, but not for a long time. Despite the usual pooh-poohing denials from the stars’ official camps, two friends of the ”J’s” (as a longtime Biel buddy calls them) insist there are problems in paradise.

While the duo are still living together, Biel’s friend reports, ”Things are not going as smoothly as [Biel and Timberlake] would want people to think they are.” Two friends of Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake insist there are problems in the relationship. On the other side, a veteran Timberlake associate whispers, ”I can always sense when Justin is beginning to get itchy in a relationship. … While he’s still very public about being seen with Jessica, it’s interesting. … He hardly talks about her when she’s not around.

”The same thing happened with Cameron [Diaz, a Timberlake ex], and it also was the case with Britney [Spears].”

To be fair, another longtime Biel pal told me Wednesday, ”I don’t think this is true. I was just with them and I’ve never seen them look happier. … I think this is someone out to unnecessarily cause trouble… ‘I know they are both very good actors, but I truly think their feelings for each other haven’t changed.”

Both of my sources indicate Timberlake thinks Biel is a bit too ”controlling,” but Biel’s friend tells me she’s not going to give up on the relationship easily. ”She will do anything to keep Justin. She really loves him very much.”

[From Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times]

I won’t pretend to know much about Jessica Biel, but she’s never struck me as controlling. Justin certainly has though. It might be that anyone who doesn’t do exactly what he wants is “too controlling.” Jessica has always seemed incredibly bland to me though. Maybe it’s just because she’s not a drama queen and relatively stable, at least by Hollywood standards. We don’t know about every facet of her life, unlike Britney.

But whenever I look at Jessica, I just see beige. Sometimes eggshell white. But never anything interesting. She’s nice to look at, I’ll give her that. But even though I want to empathize with her on this, part of me can’t blame Justin for possibly wanting to move on.

Here’s Justin and Jessica taking their dogs for a stroll at a park in Los Angeles on November 25th. Images thanks to Pacific Coast News.