Let’s just say Britney Spears is all about freedom these days, especially when it comes to her body.
If you’ve followed the music superstar on Instagram lately, you’d have noticed the deluge of photos featuring a topless Britney ― five posts in the past two weeks ― having fun in the sun in denim bottoms and not much else.
Given the ongoing legal battle over the conservatorship that has controlled nearly every aspect of Spears’ life since 2008, some fans have questioned whether the revealing photos were shared without her consent.
But the singer set the record straight with another clothing-optional post on Monday, explaining that these days she’s all about expressing herself on her own terms after years of feeling “too self conscious about my body.”
“Before I show you more pics of my body … I want you to understand my thoughts on exposing my skin,” the singer wrote in the caption alongside a carousel of photos from a topless shoot.
“In my opinion it’s quite twisted the immediate response of when any woman is hot and they want to shed a layer ... is DAMN I FEEL BETTER … therefore you think you look better!!!”
“I’ve had a billion shows where I’ve done that and to my horror uhhh … sometimes I didn’t look so great … TOO MANY TIMES and it’s embarrassing as fuck but in my imagination it felt great,” she continued. “I mean I don’t want anybody to see the big dimple on my ass but I feel like performing made me too self conscious about my body and that’s not attractive.”
Britney, donning only white bikini bottoms and red knee-high shoes in the photos, went on to share why she’s chosen to “expose my body NOW” given the public scrutiny surrounding her personal life over the last few months.
“It’s because I was born into this world naked and I honestly feel like the weight of the world has been on my shoulders and it’s made me view myself that way,” she wrote. “I wanted to see myself in a lighter way … naked … like the way I was born.”
Since last autumn, Britney has been fighting to regain control of her finances and freedom from her father, Jamie Spears. She testified in open court in June that she’s being exploited under the dehumanising restraints of the conservatorship, which she compared to sex trafficking. At the time, the singer described the current arrangement as “abusive,” adding, “I haven’t done anything in the world to deserve this treatment.”
She has since hired her own attorney in the case for the first time in 13 years, as her legal team petitions to remove her father, who said last week that he ultimately “intends” to transition away from his role as her conservator without giving a specific time frame.
In her Monday post, Britney said that she’s done being constrained by “pain … hurt … tears … and heavy burdens” and that she’s embracing a new attitude.
“I am a woman …. a beautiful … sensitive woman who needs to look at myself in my purest form,” she wrote. “I’m not going to do topless pics for the rest of my life cause that would get boring but it sure as hell helps when you need to be enlightened.”
She concluded her caption by connecting her self-expression to the #FreeBritney movement, writing, “There’s a way deeper meaning to the movement than you can ever imagine.”
The next court hearing in Britney’s case is set for 29 Sept, as she presses forward with increasingly assertive steps to break away from her father and dissolve the conservatorship.