Britney Spears learned how quickly the internet can take things out of context when she posted, and quickly deleted, something about her ex Justin Timberlake after talking about getting a new tattoo.

The singer shared a video earlier this week of her getting a tattoo on her right forearm and told fans she “can’t show it because it sucks… I have to fix it.”

Later on, she posted a photo from 2001 of her and Justin wearing Los Angeles Knights jerseys and wrote in part, “When we used to shoot hoops TOGETHER … that’s when miracles happened.”

That update was quickly deleted, but fans felt there were some dots to connect between the two posts. Rumors sparked that Britney had gotten a tattoo in honor of her ex.

The rumor mill became too persistent for Britney, so she took to her Instagram Story to clear the air. “My tattoo had nothing to do with an ex in the past !!! I simply did it because I wanted to !!!”

“The pic with my ex is a time where there was less confusion on what it meant to be together … it is what it is,” she continued.

Britney and Justin dated from 1998 to 2002. 

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