Mariah Carey sympathises with troubled singer Britney Spears because she knows better than most how difficult it can be to live her life under such media scrutiny.

The 38-year-old singer admits she struggled with fame in her early years in the music industry, but believes Spears is not doing herself any favours by associating herself with the wrong type of people.

She says: "It's easy to say, 'With Britney, this and that didn't work out,' but I'm not that presumptuous.

"I've experienced it myself. Setbacks come if you lead your life in the public eye and let people get closer to you than you should.

"But it was never as dramatic with me as it was with Britney. I've never done hard drugs and I always had a firm hold of somewhere."