Oops! Britney Spears is in the middle of a big crying drama on “ The X Factor .”
Last night’s season premiere was heavily edited to remove an awkward exchange between the pop princess and a former Britney singing partner who claims the judges pressured him into coming out of the closet during his audition.
“I think they were scared I was going to kill myself,” says Don Philip, who recorded the duet “I Will Still Love You” with Spears in 1999.
“After that thing, I went home and had thoughts of [suicide]. I was so destroyed that they set me up.”
It all unfolded in June at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., during Spears’ first week on the job.
Philip, 32, says he confided in producers that he was gay but didn’t expect it to be discussed on the show.
“When I got on stage, [the judges] chimed in saying, ‘What is your secret?’ ” Philip tells The Post.
“I knew immediately what they were talking about. I only had one secret.”
Philip — a vocal coach in New York — left Spears visibly shaken when he told her: “I didn’t think you thought it was OK that I am gay.”
She responded: “I think it is fine that you are gay.”
The singer then began crying onstage, telling his former singing partner: “I never thought I would see you again.”
Philip said his voice “froze” when he began to sing and the judges voted unanimously to send him home.
After the audition, he is seen dropping to his knees in the hallway, crying: “I think I have hurt [Spears].”
Much of the scene was left on the cutting room floor, a show source says.
But Philip says that made him even more angry.
“It makes it kind of worse,” he says. “My mother has still not spoken to me. It is like I went through all this [coming out] for nothing. Everyone knows I am gay now.”
“The judges were not given any specific information about Mr. Philips prior to his audition,” a spokesman for the show said in prepared statement last night.
“The personal information that Mr. Philips quickly volunteered at the start of his audition was a surprise to the judges who asked what had happened during the past 10 years, as they were interested in Mr. Philips’ career.
“While we understand his decision to discuss his personal life, Mr. Philips’ sexual orientation was not something that any of the judges or producers felt was relevant.”
Meanwhile, Cowell says he intends to add two hosts — most likely Khloe Kardashian, according to reports, and an unidentified male — in time for the live shows which begin in November.