Moby: 'Britney couldn't cope with fame'

Moby has put Britney Spears's recent troubles down to her rise to fame at an early age.

The dance star - who collaborated with Spears on her 2003 album In The Zone - said she had suffered an identity crisis after being thrust into the media spotlight as a teenager.

He said: "I think what's happening is the combination of hardcore substance abuse coupled with... she doesn't know who she is.

"She became an international icon aged 16. My armchair dilettante psychoanalysis of what's going on is she's punishing herself and saying to the world, 'You loved me when I was a 16-year-old ingenue, do you love me now I'm a 26-year-old drug-damaged person?'"

He added that he was sorry to see the popstar in such a fragile state, saying: "In a weird way she's challenging people, but it's breaking my heart because ultimately she's not doing things on a symbolic level.

"Cutting your hair off is symbolic. Losing your children and becoming a drug addict is not."