Britney Spears stans, you can relax: After taking a break from Instagram last week, the star has returned to (rightfully, tbh) dole out a little scolding to her zealous fan base. Apparently, the fact that Spears deactivated her social media account freaked fans out so much, that they called the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office to do a welfare check on the star. Y’all ... Britney is okay, she’s back on Instagram, and she certainly didn’t need a bunch of strangers to call the cops on her.
Per TMZ, local law enforcement showed up to her residence around midnight on Tuesday when fans prompted them to do a welfare check on the star, after she deactivated her Instagram. Thankfully, Spears was unharmed, but prompting the police to show up at her house just because she wanted a break from Instagram is a huge problem — which she addressed in a Jan. 26 Twitter post. “I love and adore my fans but this time things went a little too far and my privacy was invaded,” she wrote, later adding, “This felt like I was being gaslit and bullied once the incident made it to the news and being portrayed once again in a poor and unfair light by the media.”
Because aspects of celebs’ private lives can be found on billboards, magazines, and movie screens, many fans seem to think they personally know the stars they celebrate (or bash). Nowadays, the accessibility that social media has granted fans has only seemed to exacerbate that false feeling of familiarity.
Though Spears tweeted last week that she exited Instagram because of the harsh comments, she returned to the platform on Sunday — and in her first Instagram post since doing so, she seemingly expressed frustration with battling people’s expectations of her. “Since everyone thinks they know my story. THINK AGAIN !!! It is what it is … nope I’m not having a breakdown … I am who I am and moving forward in my life. I have never felt better !!!” She went on to explain that even she’s explain that she’s learning new things about herself (like the fact that she hates alcohol) during this new era of independence.
She capped off the post by reminding followers, “PS yes I took my Instagram down and now it’s back up because I can !!!”
Knowing someone through a screen and actually knowing someone in real life are two very different things — especially when it comes to celebrities, and doubly so when it comes to Miss Britney. You do not know this woman! Let her live her life!
