Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera have resurrected their acrimonious relationship, following a series of mutual insults in recent interviews.

Spears and Aguilera, who have been on-off friends since childhood, were thought to have made-up following their well-publicised 'kiss' at last year's MTV Music Video Awards.

However, the gloves are back on, after Aguilera claimed Britney was "desperate" for support and had lost her way in recent years.

Following their performance at the MTV show, Aguilera told Blender magazine's December issue: "She seemed very distant, even during rehearsals...She seems to me like a lost little girl, someone who desperately needs guidance."

Spears, 22, has responded in the January issue, saying that the first time the pair saw each other in two years, Aguilera tried to "put her tongue down my throat!"

"I say, 'It's good to see you,' and she goes, 'Well, you're not being real with me.' I was like, 'Well, Christina, what's your definition of real? Going up to girls and kissing them after you haven't seen them for two years?'"

"A lost girl? I think it's probably the other way around," claimed Spears.