After Britney Spears‘ mental health and general whereabouts has stirred up a major bout of controversy among many of her social media followers, the star herself has posted a message to her fans through Instagram, clarifying that she’s OK.
“Hi guys just checking in with all of you who are concerned about me,” she began. “All is well. My family has been going through a lot of stress and anxiety lately, so I just needed time to deal.”
Spears, 37, checked herself into an undisclosed mental health facility late last month after struggling to deal with her father’s (Jamie Spears) longstanding illness, according to Reuters.
The older Spears has been suffering from a ruptured colon and reportedly had a second surgery very recently. The Toxic singer was forced to put her Las Vegas residency, Domination, on an “indefinite hiatus.”
Despite this, a small group of fans gathered for a “FreeBritney” protest at West Hollywood’s City Hall earlier this week. They demanded Spears be released from the facility — suggesting the pop sensation was being held against her own will.
While Spears showed her appreciation for the passionate fans and their concerns, she admitted that the protests and rumours are “just making it harder” for her.
“My situation is unique,” she added, “but I promise I’m doing what’s best at this moment.” Fortunately for fans, Spears concluded her message by saying, “Don’t worry, I will be back very soon.”
READ MORE: Justin Bieber breaks music hiatus, joins Ariana Grande on Coachella stage
Along with her short and sweet video, Spears posted a lengthy statement which did not beat around the bush, that reads:
You may not know this about me,” she continued, “but I am strong and stand up for what I want! Your love and dedication is amazing, but what I need right now is a little bit of privacy to deal with all the hard things that life is throwing my way. If you could do that, I would be forever grateful.”
She revealed that while she just needed time for her own self-care, she felt like she had to address the controversy online before things got any worse — specifically for her younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears.
The younger Spears, 28, was left to defend herself earlier this week after a number of naysayers sent her death threats and chastised her through social media because they believed she didn’t support her older sister during her times of need.
“I love my sister with everything I have,” wrote Jamie Lynn on Twitter. “So anyone or anything that speaks to the contrary can GTFOH with all the comments about what you don’t understand,” she concluded.
READ MORE: Britney Spears fans stage protest, demand she be released from psychiatric facility
“Don’t believe everything you read and hear” echoed throughout Spears’ statement, as in the latter half, the star began to point fingers at her ex-manager, Sam Lutfi, who allegedly “crafted fake e-mails” under her name, which sparked a lot of the fan protests.
Within the last week, Lutfi, 44, also took part in the #FreeBritney movement, where he retweeted a number of posts with various different and unique theories regarding the singer and her current management.
“These fake e-mails everywhere were crafted by Sam Lutfi years ago,” wrote Spears. “I did not write them. He was pretending to be me and communicating with my team with a fake e-mail address.”
Lutfi was quick to rebuke these claims, with his own statement posted to Twitter only minutes after Spears’ video was published.
“Britney’s Instagram post has accused me of fabricating e-mails of hers that have been circulating recently,” he wrote in the post.
“I can unequivocally state that I never wrote nor had access to her e-mail,” he continued. “Her team’s desperate attempt to deflect negative attention onto me (yet again) is a rather ineffective way to overshadow the #FreeBritney movement.”
“In addition to making certain people in her camp look bad,” added Lutfi, “the e-mails in question show a woman capable of running her own life, a narrative they apparently want to hide.”
WATCH: Britney Spears seeks help for mental health
READ MORE: Justin Bieber joins chorus against Laura Ingraham: ‘You should be fired’
As of this writing, it’s unclear when Spears will fully complete her psychiatric treatment. Neither she nor her representatives have commented on the matter.
“We all need to take time for a little ‘me time,’” wrote Spears, with a smiley face in an Instagram post earlier this month, containing a picture which reads, “Fall in love with taking care of your self, mind, body, spirit.”
—
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.
The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Depression Hurts and Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 all offer ways of getting help if you, or someone you know, may be suffering from mental health issues.