A magazine that recently featured X Factor USA panelist Britney Spears has apologised for her cover photo after fans complained about the obviously digitally-enhanced image.

She appeared on the front cover of Lucky magazine, but her Twitter followers soon showed their distaste at the picture (shown below) because it appeared to be heavily Photoshopped and the flood of negative comments prompted the magazine to make a public statement about the shot:

"Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on our cover! As always, we will share with our team and we're sorry to have let some of you down."

Readers and fans of Spears complained about her 'horrendous wig' and 'unnaturally white teeth', with one Twitter user writing: "Did @britneyspears even show up for the photoshoot or did you just photoshop her face on a body[?]"

Meanwhile, Spears expressed her excitement at seeing her group on X Factor USA perform on stage for the first time and tweeted: "Saw my teens perform on the live stage for the 1st time today. So Wow! Never forget that great things come in small packages :)"