Amid conservatorship battles and courtroom disappointments, Britney Spears has used social media as a consistent outlet for her fans.
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And while there always has been speculation surrounding the ownership of her social media accounts, her new post has thrown all of that into a bigger tailspin than before.
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The singer posted a picture of herself before getting into the bathtub, completely stripped down and showing off her bare and toned back.
She had her hair pulled to the front and wore only a tiny silver chain, and captioned the image with three ballet shoe emojis.
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Fans were immediately taken in by the image, and a few of them got the obvious pun, commenting with, "Britney's back." And several others continued with the battle cry of "Free Britney."
© Photo: InstagramThe singer went all out for her new Instagram post
However, a majority of them were confused by the image and started speculating that it wasn't actually Britney in the photo. "Who’s photo shopping her pics??" a fan wrote, and one said, "We know this isn't you." Another added, "Yall know this ain’t Britney right??"
The suspicion arose due to the fact that the Toxic singer's tattoos were missing, something her more devoted followers immediately noticed. "WHERE ARE HER TATTOOS THOUGH?!?!" one commented on the picture.
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The pop icon previously had shared a picture of herself mid-dance routine which showed off one of her tattoos of a Hebrew saying on the back of her neck.
© Photo: InstagramBritney showed off her neck tattoo in an earlier Instagram post
"It's my favorite tattoo but ironically you never see it !!!!!" she'd written in the caption for that photo. Of course, it's entirely possible that the photo could've been taken before she got the tattoo. However, given recent revelations about her social media usage, her followers picked up quickly.
The photo created a stir amid news that Britney's mother, Lynne Spears, filed a petition with the court requesting that her daughter be able to appoint her own lawyer to look after her case.
Earlier in the week, her longtime manager, Larry Rudolph, announced that he'd be stepping down in the wake of the controversy that followed after her conservatorship removal request was denied.
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