Britney Spears: Playing with knives and pole dancing - six of the singer's most shocking Instagram posts

Britney Spears has returned to Instagram as her new memoir, The Woman in Me, is released today (Tuesday 24 October).

The iconic singer shared two images on her official Instagram account, @BritneySpears, the day prior to the book release. One showed her hand under a running tap in a pink bath and the other showed a heart shaped cake with the words ‘see you in hell’ written in pink icing in the centre. 

The two posts are the latest in a stream of posts which have caused delight, but also sometimes concern, among Britney’s fans in recent weeks and months. Here at NationalWorld we have decided to take a look at six of Britney’s most attention grabbing posts. Take a look at them all below.

Playing with knives

Back in September, Britney raised eyebrows by posting a video of herself seemingly playing with two large kitchen knives as she danced. The post was captioned: “I started playing in the kitchen with knives today !!! Don’t worry they are NOT real knives !!! Halloween is soon!!!”

Despite Britney’s reassurances that the knives were not real, many fans were still concerned about the video. Three days later, she posted another video showing her twirling around with the knives which had the caption: “I know I spooked everyone with the last post, but these are fake knives that my team rented from Hand Prop shop in LA. These are not real knives. No one needs to worry or call the police.” She also confirmed that she had been “trying to imitate one of my favourite performers Shakira” and added “cheers to us bad girls who aren’t afraid to push boundaries and take risks”.

In case you missed it, Shakira gave a show-stopping performance of some of her greatest hits at the MTV VMAs earlier this month, and at one point she danced while holding two knives in her hands.

Pole dancing

Britney set pulses racing when she posted a video of her dancing next to a bright pink role dressed in a matching bright pink bikini, also in September. The pole has also appeared in the background of some of the singer’s more recent posts, suggesting that this may be a pole she has in her own home.

Naked images

The star isn’t afraid to show off her body. In late 2022, Britney posted three photos of herself; one fully naked and laying in a bath and two of her lying naked on a beach. In each case, she used a flower emoji to cover her modesty. She’s also posted other naked images over the years.

Lion chained up

Britney posted a video of a lion, which had a chain around its neck roaring at the camera in October 2022. The video was tagged with @lions.savena. It’s not clear exactly who filmed the video or where it was, but the singer received criticism from fans who felt she was providing a platform for animal cruelty. At the time, comments were turned on on the star’s Instagram. They have since been turned off. One person at the time said “poor animal”, while other said “animals don’t belong in captivity. Ever.”

Dead baby image

Britney raised eyebrows in March 2021 with a bizarre Instagram post which showed a black and white photo of a baby skull being held by a woman. The caption read: "Devil is in the details …. wouldn't want this baby to hit me one more time." The last bit is a play on the lyrics to her hit Baby One More Time, but the meaning behind the image and the caption sparked concern among her fans who asked if she was okay.

This is not the only monochrome image Britney has caused controversy with. More recently, she also posted a photo which showed a young girl drinking from a bottle of alcohol and a young boy smoking.

Handcuffed and ‘bloodied’

There was an outcry in November 2021 when Britney posted a series of images which showed her hands handcuffed together and a red mark on her neck, hand and face. The images were posted with no caption so fans were left baffled as to the meaning behind them. The red marks on her body were clearly make-up, but even so people were unimpressed with the photos, with one person claiming that they had triggered her post traumatic stress disorder.

If you wish, you can follow Britney on Instagram @BritneySpears. She boasts more than 42 million followers.

You can also keep up-to-date with all the latest Britney Spears news by following our dedicated Britney Spears page.

You can buy her new memoir, The Woman in Me, now on Amazon.