Britney Spears Claps Back at Skepticism Over Nude Photo, Explains Why Tattoo Is Missing

Britney Spears' Instagram page has been leaving fans scratching their heads and skeptical over just what's going on and who's running the page for several years now, but the latest reaction proved too much for Britney.

Oftentimes, she simply ignores the public reaction to her content, which largely contains top-down low-quality pictures of her in peasant tops (sometimes repeated) or videos of her dancing.

When fans started questioning if a topless shot shared to her page on Wednesday was really her, Britney decided it was time to step in and defend herself ... and the photo.

The image is of her bare back, with a necklace visible but something else notably missing. It was less than a month ago (June 11) that Britney shared another image of her back, pointedly asking her fans if they'd seen "the tattoo on the back of [her] neck before."

Well, they saw it then, but there was no sign of it in Wednesday's pic, leading some to doubt that the woman in the picture was Britney at all.

As the controversy started on Instagram, that's where Britney went to resolve it, sharing a graphic of a woman with the message, "While you're talking behind my back feel free to bend down and kiss my a--."

In the caption to this post, she explained that she had digitally removed the tattoo in the picture "cause I wanted to see what it would look like clean." She said she actually liked her neck better free of the ink, before echoing the sentiment in her post image itself.

It's a far more direct and aggressive stance than Britney usually takes with her fans, and even skeptics and critics of her page.

But it's also coming off a blistering testimony where she blasted her conservatorship, using aggressive and direct language not heard before in that setting, either.

During the 20-minute statement, the "Toxic" hitmaker claimed the conservatorship, overseen by her father Jamie Spears for the majority of the last 13 years, was "abusive" and "stupid."

She has indicated she intends to try and have it removed so she can gain freedom over her personal and professional life for the first time since 2008.