Madonna Defends Spears

MADONNA has leaped to the defence of troubled pop star BRITNEY SPEARS, claiming she is struggling to cope with adulthood because she was never given the chance to grow up.

The Material Girl claims living her teens under the full gaze of the world has robbed Spears of a proper childhood.

She says, "I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that she was never allowed to have a childhood. She didn't get to grow up and make mistakes privately and try things out and just be a kid and be innocent.

"She's been watched, judged and been under a microscope since she's been a teenager. It's hard to evolve that way."

The 49-year-old mother-of-three is determined to keep her own kids on the right path - even if she was somehwat of a wild child: "I just remind them about all the things that they have, and that if I didn't do what I did they wouldn't have those things."

And she's convinced her kids have no interest in becoming as famous as mum or Spears: "They're sort of over it. They like to skateboard around (but) they get to travel a lot, they get to do a lot of interesting things and meet a lot of interesting people."