Rachel Zegler has tweeted an apology for performing a dramatic reading of Britney Spears‘ tweets about her sister, Jamie Lynn Spears.

Spears shared a statement on Twitter following Jamie Lynn’s appearance on Good Morning America, where she spoke about Britney’s controversial conservatorship, which was terminated last year.

In one section of the interview, Jamie Lynn said the singer locked the two of them in a room with a knife because she “didn’t feel safe”. This prompted Britney to post a lengthy response:

“Jamie Lynn…congrats babe! You’ve stooped to a whole new level of LOW,” Britney wrote. “I’ve never been around you with a knife or would I ever even think to do such!!!. The only knife I ever saw you with at home was cutting the biggest pieces of squash I ever saw in my life and it was way too big for me to cut.

“So please please stop with these crazy lies for the Hollywood books. NOW and only NOW I do know only a scum person would make up such things about someone.”

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Britney and am rooting for her always. While I meant no disrespect whatsoever, I should have thought about how this could be perceived, and I’m so sorry for upsetting or disappointing anyone. (1/2)

— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) January 17, 2022

Zegler, who made her film debut as Maria Vasquez in the 2021 film adaptation of West Side Story, then posted a dramatic reading of the excerpt, which immediately faced backlash online.

Shortly after, the actress removed the video and issued a statement apologising. She said: “Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Britney and am rooting for her always. While I meant no disrespect whatsoever, I should have thought about how this could be perceived, and I’m so sorry for upsetting or disappointing anyone.”

She added: “This is not a situation to be taken lightly, and we should all be lifting Britney up in this pivotal time. Thanks for hearing me out, and a big thank you to all who held me accountable.”

Earlier this month, Spears hinted that she is planning on writing her own memoir. This follows a post on Instagram in December, in which she revealed that she was working on new music.

The pop star has not released new material since her 2016 album ‘Glory’, and recently said that refraining from making new music was a “fuck you” to those who mistreated her in her conservatorship.