Britney Spears on Tuesday responded to accusations of body shaming Christina Aguilera.
“By no means was I being critical of Christina’s beautiful body,” Spears wrote in an Instagram post. “It is what it is !!!”
Aguilera reportedly unfollowed her former Mickey Mouse Club co-star after Spears posted a quote attributed to the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield: “I found there was only one way to look thin: hang out with fat people.” Spears captioned it: “I wish I could have chosen … my dancers … I mean if I had Christina Aguilera's dancers I would have looked extremely small.”
Some fans were quick to slam Spears.
“This is far from cool, brit,” commented one person. Another wrote: “Why would you want to put anyone down or make anyone feel small? Use your platform responsibly. Do better.”
One fan schooled Spears: “Britney, this ain't it. I know you've missed a lot, but it's 2022. We don't care about that s**t anymore. And we don't fat shame ourselves or others.”
Late Tuesday, Spears offered an explanation for the post, which she did not delete (the pop star has a track record of deleting posts).
“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 !!!”
Spears insisted she is “not trying to be critical of anybody.” She explained: “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 !!!”