From her nightmare conservatorship experience to her short-lived marriage to Sam Asghari, Britney Spears has undeniably been through hell since she first found fame as a teenager. Throughout it all, the singer has kept posting videos to Instagram of herself dancing at home, yet even those have caused concern for some people. But this week, the singer made one thing very clear this week: she doesn’t want anyone’s pity.

On Instagram, the “Baby One More Time” singer hit back at one of TV’s most famous families, the Osbournes, after they spoke about her social media activity on their podcast. In recent years, Britney’s social media feed has often featured videos of her dancing at home on her own, often wearing a bikini or crop top.

Britney has always said the clips show her exploring her love of dance. The Osbourne family, however, didn’t see it that way. ‘I’m fed up of seeing poor old Britney Spears [dancing] on YouTube every fucking day,’ Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy said on the recent episode of The Osbournes Podcast. ‘It’s sad, very, very sad,’ said Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy, while daughter Kelly said, ‘I know. I feel so sorry for her.’ ‘Poor little thing,’ added Sharon, calling the posts ‘heartbreaking’.

Britney was having none of it. In a lengthy post, written on her Notes app and shared to Instagram, the pop star had a simple message: ‘I’m gonna … tell the Osbourne family who is the most boring family known to mankind to kindly fuck off!’

Now, the Osbournes are by no means the first people to voice their concerns for Britney due to her social media posts. When the singer would post a dancing video, or a motivational quote, or a rambly text post, they would be flooded with comments from her followers expressing concerns that Britney seemed erratic and not like herself; or the version of her that they knew and remembered, anyway.

The singer’s comments might now be turned off, but fans have continued inserting themselves into her life; in 2023, they infamously called the police on her after she deleted her Instagram. ‘During this time in my life, I truly hope the public and my fans who I care about so much can respect my privacy moving forward,’ she told them.

Often, concern for Britney comes from a well-meaning place. When Britney was placed under her conservatorship in 2008 after her high-profile mental health problems, it was under the guise of protecting her. Britney lived under this legal guardianship, with her father Jamie Spears serving as one of her conservators, for 13 years, without major public concern.

But along the way, a small group of fans – known as the #FreeBritney movement – had started calling for her to be freed. The movement gained traction in 2020, when fans, once again, looked to Britney’s social media for clues that she was unhappy with her conservatorship.

When the legal guardianship came to an end in November 2021, after Britney said in her bombshell testimony in June that the experience had been ‘abusive’, she was quick to praise the #FreeBritney movement. ‘My voice was muted and threatened for so long, and I wasn’t able to speak up or say anything,’ she told her fans in an Instagram video. ‘I honestly think you guys saved my life, in a way. 100 per cent.’

But when Britney was freed of her conservatorship in 2021, not everyone was prepared for what freedom looked like for the singer. It was as though there were only two possibilities imagined for her. She would either return to the stage – something she says she’s unlikely to do again – or retire from public life altogether. Few probably imagined a world where Britney posted online, did silly dances, and ranted about her feelings like many a 42-year-old woman.

Given Britney’s mental health problems, many people are genuinely worried about her suffering, or being taken advantage of. But when people, whether a genuinely invested fan or a notoriously outspoken host like Sharon Osbourne, speak out about Britney and call her a ‘poor little thing’, they infantilise her just as the conservatorship did. In her memoir, Britney wrote, ‘The conservatorship stripped me of my womanhood, made me into a child… The woman in me was pushed down for a long time. They wanted me to be wild onstage, the way they told me to be, and to be a robot the rest of the time.’

The Osbournes’ comments are particulary tone deaf, because Britney has always said that her dance videos give her joy. In 2021, the pop star explained that ‘the last two years of me posting on instagram was basically finding my love for dancing again’. Britney has told us that she’s happy, and that she doesn’t want her pity. Our concerns might come from a place of kindness, but at some point, we have to believe her.