We might still be miles away from Thursday this week, but Britney Spears just dropped the #TBT photo to end all #TBTs. In a single but powerful pic, the pop star captured the detritus left behind by her 2020 house fire—a viral conflagration that apparently started when she decided to light a couple candles in her home gym.
Spears’ caption is just as matter-of-fact as her initial post revealing the fire: On Tuesday, she wrote, “Reflecting back remembering when I burnt the gym down in 2020 😉🤔 !!!”
Beside these casual words lies a photo dusty enough to make us all wheeze from afar—kettle bells and exercise equipment covered in ash, all surrounding some kind of concrete cube that stands in the middle like an unrecognizable religious relic.
Spears first revealed that she’d accidentally set fire to her gym in May of 2020—just a couple months into the COVID-19 pandemic, when many of us were still delirious with panic, confusion, and cabin fever-induced boredom. “I had two candles,” Spears explained back then, “and, yeah, one thing led to another and I burned it down.”
The caption for that initial post also deserved a Pulitzer: “It was an accident ….but yes …. I burnt it down 🙈. I walked past the door to the gym and flames 🔥🔥🔥🔥 BOOM !!!!!! By the Grace of God the alarm 🚨 went off after that and yippy hoorah nobody got hurt 🙏🏼. Unfortunately now I have only two pieces of equipment left lol and a one-sided mirror gym 🙄🙄🙄 !!!!! But it could be much worse so I’m grateful. Pssss I like working out better outside anyways 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 !!!!”
We’ll have to wait and see whether Spears’ reflection this week yields any new insights, but for now, it’s simply a reminder of one of the wackiest celebrity news stories of 2020—even if that’s a year many of us would love to forget.