We Finally Know What Spurred Britney Spears' Iconic Confused Face Meme

The origin of a popular Britney Spears meme depicting the singer looking confused has finally been explained.

In the meme, which is often used as a gif, Spears looks very perplexed and turns to her right, seemingly seeking an explanation at whatever has made her confused from the person next to her.

One Twitter user has now managed to dig up the original video of the moment that caused Spears' confusion.

It was the moment Camilla Cabello, Normani and the other members of Fifth Harmony made the final of The X Factor in 2012.

The girl group was celebrating on stage, hugging judge Simon Cowell, when the camera cut to Spears.

The singer could be seen with her shoulder slightly raised in a shrug and her lips downturned, looking around as if she had no idea what was going on.

"10 years ago, britney spears had this puzzled reaction to fifth harmony making it to the x factor finale [sic]," the Twitter user captioned the video.

In 2012, Spears was already under a controversial conservatorship put in place by her father and then lawyer, after they argued she was not capable of looking after herself.

During the 13 years of the conservatorship, Spears claimed she was drugged with psychiatric medicine against her will, forced to shower with the door open and threatened with not seeing her kids if she didn't comply with everything her conservators decided for her.

During court testimony in June 2021, Spears described the conditions she lived under, including being forced to work relentlessly by recording music, touring, having a Las Vegas residency and making TV appearances such as X Factor and How I Met Your Mother.

The "Free Britney" movement helped bring the conservatorship to the world's attention.

A Los Angeles court ordered the end to the conservatorship on November 12, 2021. Since then Spears has enjoyed her freedom, marrying long-time boyfriend Sam Asghari.

But in recent days, Spears' fans have become concerned for her welfare as she has not been seen in public for weeks.

Conspiracy theories have flown around the internet, including that her team and family are covering up for her by replacing her with a clone, or editing social media videos to make it seem like she's there with them.

Celebrity blogger, Perez Hilton, claimed he knew what was going on with Spears and it was "not good."

"Britney Spears fans have been sharing a lot of theories because we have not seen her in public in a long time," he said in an Instagram video posted this week. "I just dismissed a lot of these theories as silly talk.

"However, I just spoke to a friend of mine, somebody that I know in real life that I trust, that I respect, that works in the industry. That is a professional somebody that I hadn't spoken to in a while, who's very plugged in. We spoke about Britney and my friend shared what they claim is going on. And I believe my friend."

Hilton continued: "Why am I making this video? First of all, for many reasons, I'm not going to repeat what my friend told me... but my friend did share that things are bad."

Newsweek has contacted Spears' representatives for comment about her current well-being.