May 25, 2025
Britney Spears has shared a clarification on a recent scandal about her lighting up a cigarette mid-air.
For those unversed, the Princess of Pop, 43, was travelling from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to Los Angeles on a May 22 flight when she suddenly lit a cigarette while drinking.
The singer was immediately told to put out the cigarette, to which she complied but was still confronted by the authorities later upon landing and issued a warning. A source also claimed that this wasn't the first time the singer had received a warning.
As the incident made headlines, Spears took to Instagram the next day to share her point of view of the aftermath.
“Me yesterday !!! It’s actually incredibly funny!!!” Spears began in her caption as she dropped a video of her from the plane.
“Some planes I’ve been on you can’t smoke mostly but this one was different because the drink holders were on [the] outside of [the] seat!!!” she wrote in the May 23 post.
“Confession it was my first time drinking VODKA!!! I swear I felt so SMART!!! I was like wow what the heck is in there !!! I felt so clear and smart !!! And said I want a cigarette so bad !!!”
The singer then clarified that it wasn't her who initiated it.
“My friend put it in my mouth and lit it up for me so I was like OH SO THIS IS A PLANE WHERE YOU CAN SMOKE !!!”
The Grammy winner went on to apologise regardless. further labeling the flight attendants' move to contact the authorities "kinda much."
She also made several allegations about one flight attendant in particular, describing her as “weird” and claiming she “invaded” the singer's personal space.
“I do so [apologise] to anyone I offended but the flight attendants always make sure I’m way at the back of plane anyways!!!” wrote Spears.
“I thought officials greeted me as support and I was like WOW I feel special !!! I’ve never been to an international airport!!! Am I famous or something ???”
“The flight attendant called officials because I smoked a cigarette !!! And embarrass me which jeez I thought was kinda much but she didn’t like me the moment I got on [the] plane !!!” the singer continued.
“Nobody was on the plane for [the] first 20 minutes and she wouldn’t let me get out of my seat I wanted to stand up !!! She acted so weird about making sure I sat down and it was weird !!! I didn’t like the way she put the seatbelt on me and invaded my space!!!”
Spears was under a conservatorship for 13 years following mental health concerns after a series of troubling incidents in the early 2000s. The star's father, Jamie Spears, served as the conservator of her estate.
The singer successfully petitioned the court to terminate the conservatorship in November 2021 and, about two years after it ended, released her best-selling memoir, The Woman in Me.