Avril Lavigne doesn't mean to be so complicated.
The pop star has issued a heartfelt mea culpa in response to reports that she spit at the paparazzi Wednesday while out in Hollywood celebrating her 22nd birthday. And again the evening before that, when she supposedly hocked one at TMZ.com's cameraman outside of hotspot Hyde Lounge.
"I'd like to sincerely apologize for my behavior with the paparazzi," Lavigne said Friday in a statement. "It's trying at best dealing with their insistent intrusions. I meant no offense to my fans, whose relationship I truly value. I have and will always go out of my way for my fans. My behavior was a reaction to the persistent attack from the paparazzi."
The Let Go singer did exactly that this week, holding an impromptu make-out session with her husband, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley, on Tuesday in a black SUV parked outside of Hyde. She then reportedly got spitting mad when photographers tried to capture the moment.
On Wednesday Lavigne was spied exiting the same club when she let loose a torrent of F-bombs directed at both the paparazzi and autograph-seekers, going so far as to scribble a few F-word laden phrases on some of the pictures handed to her to sign. This time TMZ videotaped Lavigne flipping off the crowd and expectorating out the window of her SUV.
And we thought the punk-influenced chart topper was starting to lighten up, ditching her trademark neckties for a more glamorous look and donning a Vera Wang gown when she wed Whibley in July. Representing her native Canada, she performed "Who Knows" off of her sophomore album Under My Skin during the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in February, and she lent her voice to the DreamWorks family flick Over the Hedge. Lavigne also scored an in-the-flesh role in Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation, which comes out in November, and just finished filming The Flock, a thriller costarring Richard Gere and Claire Danes.
According to the singer's Website, her as-yet untitled third album will be released sometime during the first half of 2007.
Telling MTV News during New York Fashion Week earlier this month that "married life f---in' rocks," she said that her upcoming record will be "so much fun" and lighter on the angst than usual.
"It's really upbeat. I have a few love songs--it's so funny," Lavigne said. "Of course, I still have my boy-bashing songs, but they're very playful. So the record is really fun and cool and different, and honestly I think it's my best record yet. I can say that with confidence."