Britney Spears defends criticised social media posts: 'This is me being authentic'

Britney Spears is being herself, whether or not people like her social media style.

“I get how some people might not like my posts or even understand them, but this is me being happy,” the “My Prerogative” singer wrote on Instagram Friday night. “This is me being authentic and as real as it gets!!!!! I want to inspire people to do the same and just be themselves without pleasing others...that’s the key to happiness!!!!!!”

The 38-year-old mother of two did not indicate which post seemed to tick off her followers, but this year Spears took heat for revealing that she accidentally burned down her home gym during an incident with two lit candles.

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She’s also experienced scrutiny throughout two divorces, mental health battles and a conservatorship that allows her father control over her finances, which sparked the #FreeBritney campaign. As a result, Spears’ fanbase is often both critical and fiercely protective of the star.

Spears’s Instagram account, on which she is very active, is where she posts her dance videos, selfies and the occasional photo of boyfriend Sam Asghari, a personal trainer she has reportedly dated since 2016.

This week, Spears held an Instagram Q&A, revealing some of her favourite things and places: Chili hot dogs, her 2004 hit “Toxic,” and Hawaii and Turks & Caicos. Her top three wishes, she added, are love, happiness and “a world supply of designer clothes.”

In June, a renewed Change.Org petition signed by more than 58,000 people demanded that confederate statues in Spears’s home state of Louisiana — where she quarantined with her family during the coronavirus pandemic — be replaced with tributes to the pop star, an “actual Louisiana hero and influential human being.”