Drew Barrymore says she empathizes with Britney Spears

American actor Drew Barrymore opened up about the ordeal pop icon Britney Spears had to go through and how her struggle was no different to her own.

During an interview on The Howard Stern Show, the 50 First Dates actor spoke about how she empathizes with the singer and also relates to her struggle as she highlighted how her own fame at a young age adversely impacted her life.

"I have so much empathy toward so many people. I'm sure that people look on and think, 'These party girls, these privileges, how dare they have feelings about any of this? They've put themselves out there, they've asked for this—it's fair [expletive] game.' And I just go, 'They're humans. They're just humans,'" Barrymore said.

"It's hard to grow up in front of people. It's just hard. I was in a place for a year and a half called Van Nuys Psychiatric and you couldn't mess around in there. If you did, you'd get thrown either in the padded room or get put in stretcher restraints and tied up,” she continued.

This comes after Spears’ past struggles have sparked a frenzy following the release of the New York Times-produced documentary, Framing Britney Spears, which sheds light on the media scrutiny that led to the singer’s conservatorship in 2008.