Britney Spears makes controversial comments about Christina Aguilera's backing dancers

Watch: Britney Spears made a controversial comment about Christina Aguilera's backing dancers

Britney Spears has made a controversial comment about surrounding herself with "fat" backing dancers in order to feel more confident.

The Toxic singer - who has not performed in public since October 2018 - made reference to pop rival Christina Aguilera's dancers in a social media post about the choices that were made for her during her 13-year conservatorship.

Spears, 40, shared a quote on Instagram from the American stand-up comic Rodney Dangerfield which read: "I found there was only one way to look thin: hang out with fat people."

She captioned the post: "I wish I could have chosen the nannies for my children … my dancers … I mean if I had Christina Aguilera’s dancers I would have looked extremely small… I mean why not talk about it ??

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"Don’t you think my confidence would have been a bit better if I could choose where I lived, ate, whom I called on the phone, dated and who was on stage with me !!! It’s hard sometimes now I see how much of my womanhood was stripped away at that time and every person sat back and didn’t say a thing !!! Anyways … I will be here talking bout things people NEVER talked about!!!"

The reaction from the 42 million followers of the Oops... I Did It Again! singer to her remarks has been predominantly negative for not being body positive.

One commented: "Oof. Love Britt- but this was in bad taste. Body shaming to make yourself feel better is not where it’s at."

Another wrote: "Is the only thing that gives a woman confidence how thin she is? Sad."

And another said: "Nooo Britney we aren't perpetuating fatphobia. Please, you're better than this."

Aguilera has not commented.

Spears has been using social media to speak out against the way her family treated her during her 13-year conservatorship put in place by her father Jamie Spears.

The conservatorship - which had controlled her life since 2008 - was terminated by a judge in November 2021.

She has since married 28-year-old personal trainer Sam Asghari, her partner of five years. In May Spears announced she had suffered a miscarriage.

Her ex-husband Kevin Federline recently gave a tell-all interview about the star, claiming that their teenage sons - 16-year-old Sean Preston and 15-year-old Jayden James - choose not to see her and are embarrassed by her nude photos on Instagram.

Spears hit back in a statement on Instagram: “It saddens me to hear that my ex husband has decided to discuss the relationship between me and my children.

“As we all know, raising teenage boys is never easy for anyone. It concerns me the fact that the reasons is based on my Instagram… it was LONG before Instagram.

“I gave them everything… Only one word: HURTFUL… I’ll say it… My mother told me ‘You should GIVE them to their dad’."

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Spears and Federline were married from 2004 to 2007.