Britney Spears took to Instagram on Thursday to shut down claims her new ink was for former flame Justin Timberlake.
The pop sensation, 41, revealed she'd had a new tattoo at a similar time to she posted about the former N*Sync man - an upload she has since deleted.
But now, she's confirmed it was purely a coincidence and the two snaps were in no way linked. Sharing a short message on her Instagram Stories, the hit maker wrote: "Just to clarify... 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 !!!"
Brit uploaded a number of throwback snaps of her and Justin, who she dated between 1999 and 2002, playing basketball.
The pair were seen in matching jerseys from a charity game in 2001. She began her now-deleted caption: "When we used to shoot hoops TOGETHER … that’s when miracles happened."
And she went on to add a cryptic message about being "cast out," saying: "I came out of my mom’s stomach just like we all did !!! Psss … why always cast me out ??? I’m equal as all !!!"
Shortly after, she shared a clip of her getting a tattoo while on holiday in Hawaii - something she now regrets.
The Baby One More Time singer was seen in her hotel room and she was joined by a tattoo artist. In the clip, she danced around her room before the artist started tattooing her arm.
She wrote: "Tattoo in Maui 3 days ago !!! Can’t show it because it sucks !!! Like really really sucks !!! S**t !!! Psss … I have to fix it !!!"
The star appeared to see the funny side, however, and added a number of crying with laughter emoji faces.
Britney has at least nine other tattoos, including a triangle tattoo on her right hand, a fairy on her lower back and lips on her right forearm.
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