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Having survived several controversies during her career (legal woes with her parents, a 'Playboy' centerfold, etc.), the flame-haired chart-topper is all too familiar the doubled-edged sword of young celebrity. Not surprisingly, she had some choice things to say about the current crop of troubled pop divas when we recently caught up with her:
You hit No. 1 with you first single when you were just 16 years old, so you know all about the pressures of finding fame at a young age. Can you relate to what someone like Britney Spears has gone through recently?
To a certain extent, but it is different. If I or Deborah Gibson had ever done anything like what she's doing, it would have been an instant career ender. That would have been it. Nowadays, I think that people are a bit more forgiving, and I do think that they enjoy all the drama.
People also seem to get a lot more pleasure out of kicking stars when they're down -- especially young ones who have grown up in the public eye.
Look, people make mistakes. It's not a factor of being young. There are celebrities that are 40, 50 years old that are making mistakes and having them put out there for everyone to see. But I think that Britney has tons of fans that love her, and she just needs to recognize those mistakes she made, and be good to her kids and her family and be fine.
You definitely had your struggles back then, but never wet so far as to shave your head or anything like that. What kept you from going over the edge?
I was lucky because I definitely make my mistakes, but I had a lot of good people around me who were taking care of me. Where were Lindsay Lohan's friends and family when she decided to get into her car after getting smashed at a club. I'm sure they were there before, but you didn't see them around when she got into trouble. I mean, why not hire a driver? Come on, these people are rich. If you're too drunk to drive, get someone to drive you home. I just glad that no one has been hurt yet.
Yeah. Hopefully she'll be thinking about all of this still while she sits in rehab.
I think it's good that Lindsay got herself in rehab right away. But also, I don't like the fact that rehab is used as a joke nowadays. Like, "Oh I have some problems! Let me go to rehab." For a lot of the people there, it's their last chance. They have families and children that they will lose if they don't clean up. I come from a family with a lot of abuse and I know it's a very serious thing, so I don't like the fact that people take it so lightly.
Agreed. You have to find it funny that the bad-girl image is so the norm now. People forget that you were pop's original naughty girl -- at least compared to that goodie two shoes, Debbie Gibson.
Hahaha. I think Deborah and I were just different people. She was very close to her mother and family and I think that affected us differently. But I loved being the naughty tomboy. I had a lot more fun!