Britney Spears condemns ‘haters’ over ‘edited’ nude photo backlash

Fans had speculated nude photo may have depicted a different woman entirely

Britney Spears has condemned “haters” who criticised a nude photo of the star in which her tattoos appeared to have been removed.

The pop star, who has been embroiled in a legal fight against her court-ordered conservatorship in recent years, posted a photograph to Instagram on Wednesday (7 July) in which she stood nude with her back to the camera.

Fans were quick to notice, however, that Spears’s back tattoos were absent from the photo. Amid prolonged ambiguity over the star’s Instagram account, which has been largely devoid of mention of Spears’s legal turmoil, fans expressed cynicism that Spears herself had posted the picture.

Others, meanwhile, theorised that the woman in the picture may not have been Spears at all.

Today (9 July), Spears responded to the criticism with a meme depicting Khloe Kardashian flashing her middle finger alongside the message: “While you’re talking behind my back, feel free to bend down and kiss my ass.”

“Ok so ... I edited out my tattoo on my neck cause I wanted to see what it would look like clean,” Spears captioned the image, alongside three “shrug” emojis.

“And yeah I like it better so while you guys are talking behind my back go ahead and kiss my ass haters!!!!!!”

Earlier this week, Spears’s long-time manager Larry Rudolph announced that he is stepping down from the role over her apparent wish to “officially retire”.

The move came less than two weeks after Spears broke her years-long silence over the conservatorship that controls her personal and professional affairs, reading a bombshell testimony in court in which she appealed for her freedom.