Britney Spears ‘taking a break’ from social media after engagement

Britney Spears has announced she is “taking a break” from social media following her engagement to her boyfriend, Sam Asghari.

The singer caused some confusion on Tuesday when fans noticed her Instagram account had disappeared, initially leading some to believe it had been deactivated. But Spears later clarified she had deleted the account herself:

“Don’t worry folks … just taking a little break from social media to celebrate my engagement!!! I’ll be back soon,” she wrote on Twitter.

Spears’s Instagram account has long been a focus in the battle over her conservatorship, a complex legal arrangement she was placed under in 2008. The agreement, usually reserved for the very old or infirm, put her father, Jamie Spears, in charge of her finances, healthcare and other major decisions. Spears has described the conservatorship as “abusive” and recently testified before a judge about having her father removed from the role.

As Britney Spears battled in secret to wrest back control of her life, fans speculated she was sending secret messages through her Instagram account, where she posted memes and photos of her children. Her occasionally cryptic posts even inspired a podcast dissecting their true meanings.

As her fight to regain control of her life went public, she began to post more candidly on Instagram, sharing criticisms of her father and sister in one recent caption. “My so-called support system hurt me deeply,” she wrote.

Jamie Spears has since filed a request to terminate the conservatorship. Lawyers for Jamie Spears said: “As Mr Spears has said again and again, all he wants is what is best for his daughter.”

Days later, Spears announced her engagement to Asghari on Sunday with a post displaying a diamond ring.

Spears had said in her plea to the court to remove the conservatorship that the agreement was preventing her from marrying Asghari and having a baby.