Britney Spears took to Instagram on Tuesday night to respond to backlash she received for comments she made over the size of fellow pop superstar Christina Aguilera's backing dancers.
The fallout, which resulted in 41-year-old Christina unfollowing Brit on the social media platform, began on Monday after Britney, 40, wrote: "I wish I could have chosen the nannies for my children … my dancers … I mean if I had Christina Aguilera's dancers I would have looked extremely small. I mean why not talk about it ?? Don't you think my confidence would have been a bit better if I could choose where I lived, ate, whom I called on the phone, dated and who was on stage with me!
"It's hard sometimes now I see how much of my womanhood was stripped away at that time and every person sat back and didn't say a thing! Anyways… I will be here talking bout things people NEVER talked about."
Disgruntled users replied in their droves with one telling the Baby One More Time singer: "This was in bad taste. Body shaming to make yourself feel better is not where it's at."
Another added: "You can speak YOUR truth without making an effort to offend someone."
A third said: "This is so wrong, there is so much more to life than looking thin."
Fast forward 24 hours later, meanwhile, and Britney has seemingly made an attempt to justify her remarks with an apologetic post.
"By no means was I being critical of Christina's beautiful body, it is what it is!" she began.
"I flew to see her show once and the main thing I noticed was the difference of our people on stage! By no means did I even mention Christina, look at my post! I was inspired by her show and she is a beautiful woman of power… Thank you @xtina for inspiring me!
"To be honest, I'm not trying to be critical of anybody. What I posted is a projection of the insecurities I deal with all the time as a result of how my parents and the media have treated me... I would never intentionally body shame anybody because I know what it feels like... I struggle with this because of how I feel about myself, not because I hate how anybody looks...
"I feel like my family knew I was insecure and people were trying to purposefully feed into this insecurity by not letting me have a choice in the people who were on stage with me. I appreciate you all being understanding with me as I figure out this new life I'm living!"
Although hundreds of followers were happy with Britney's explanation, many were less forgiving, with one user declaring: "The next day you decided to say this? Nice try at saving face. This is not the first time you’ve been shady towards Christina. How about just work on what you need to work on and leave her out of the conversation especially her dancers because they are like family to her."
Another said: "Just delete the post. Its bodyshaming and fatshaming."
And a third offered: "Always playing the victim aren’t you, Britney? Give it a break already and grow up."
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