Paris Hilton spoke out against the "absolutely ridiculous" conspiracy theories surrounding Britney Spears, who a faction of fans believes has gone missing.
Over the past several weeks, fans of the pop star, 41, have speculated that she has not been in control of her Instagram account, with some suggesting that videos and images of the star have been edited.
One TikTok user claimed that Spears was dancing in front of a green screen, while others said that those around her have edited her voice into videos to give the impression that all is well behind the scenes.
The unfounded theories spilled over onto Hilton's Instagram account over the weekend, when she shared a series of photos in tribute to Hollywood powerhouse agent Cade Hudson in celebration of his 35th birthday.
As Hilton thanked Hudson for "always being such a loyal and true friend," she shared a string of images of herself and Hudson posing with a number of celebrities, including Drew Barrymore, Emma Roberts, Tiffany Haddish and Spears.
In the comments section of the post, a number of Instagram users questioned why a part of Spears' necklace appeared to be missing. There were also questions about why she was the only one of the stars posted who looked "blurry." Some outright claimed that it was not the pop star in the photo, but instead a clone.
After the stream of comments caught her eye, Hilton, 41, who is a longtime friend of Spears, returned to the post to explain that she had edited some of the photos, causing a distorted appearance.
"To all of those asking. Some of these photos were taken on an iPhone so they ended up being blurry," Hilton wrote. "So they used this app called Remini to make it look unblurry and sometimes the Ai distorts images. Didn't want to even dignify this with a response. But some of these conspiracy theories are absolutely ridiculous."
The comments come as fans continue to press their conspiracy theories that Spears and beleaguered rapper Kanye "Ye" West have recently gone missing.
Last week, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who has also added to the speculation in recent weeks, shared a snippet of his podcast, Perez Hilton Podcast With Chris Booker, in which he spoke about the pop star.
"Britney Spears continues to be not seen in public and that has a lot of her fans very worried," Perez Hilton said in the clip shared on Twitter. "There are a lot of theories about Britney.
"I have been given information from those who love Britney. And a lot of Britney fans were upset at me because I said I know what's going on, but I don't feel it's appropriate to publicly share the private health information that I know. I'm respectful," the blogger said.
He then addressed unfounded fan allegations that Spears was still under conservatorship; that she was purportedly under the control of her husband, Sam Asghari; and that the images shown on Instagram were of a clone.
"I made this one video a couple of weeks ago," he said. "When I first made my video, nobody had been speculating about what really was going on with Britney Spears. So I felt it was important to say, 'Listen, all of you are wrong.'"
In his recent Instagram video, Perez Hilton dismissed theories such as the one about the green screen, Spears being replaced with a clone and that she was still under her conservatorship. But he said he had not "seen a single video mention what's really going on."
"Nobody, nobody has speculated on what's really happening. And I just want to send Britney genuine love," he said.
"I hope she knows the world is rooting for her. She is beloved. And this is mainly for Britney's fans. Your concern is warranted. But if and when the truth comes out, I think it would really surprise people. It surprised me."
Spears has taken breaks from, and deactivated, her Instagram account on a number of occasions. In September 2021, she explained on Twitter that one of the breaks she took at the time was to give her space to celebrate her engagement to Asghari.
The star has continued posting on her account—sharing several posts as recently as Sunday—though she has not allowed comments from her followers.
Per TMZ, Spears was among the exhaustive list of celebrities in attendance at talent agent Hudson's birthday party, which took place in Santa Monica on Saturday.
In a sidewalk interview with TMZ last month, Asghari, who tied the knot with Spears last summer, denied allegations that he was controlling his wife's Instagram account.
"I don't even control what we have for dinner," he said while speaking with a videographer. He then said why he believes Spears' fans have embraced so many conspiracy theories regarding her private life.
"You know, man, in the past there has been a lot of stuff going on, so I understand where they're coming from," he said. "If anything, they're just being good fans."
Newsweek reached out to a representative of Spears for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
