Drew Barrymore supports Britney Spears: 'She's the key to her freedom'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 8/17/21

Drew Barrymore hasn't wanted to publicly join the #FreeBritney movement, but the reason certainly wasn't because she doesn't care.

Quite the opposite, actually.

"I have purposefully stayed out of this conversation, but since she has spoken up, she's the key to her freedom," the 46-year-old actress, host and producer told Entertainment Tonight. "This is about her and her life, and everybody deserves the freedom to make mistakes or a success of their life and everything in between. That is what a life is."

"I think one of the things I thought that I could [do to] respect her the most is not Instagram about it, and not talk on social media," Barrymore added. "This is too big for that. But I also think on the other side of the coin, the noise had to be made in order to start to have change here. Social media is a very tricky animal. It can lead to great outcry and people listening, and it can also be a place that has a little bit of empty calories."

Britney Spears' court-ordered conservatorship, which began in late 2008, has been a hot-button issue in the mainstream news since the The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears documentary premiered in early February.

An overwhelming number of celebrities—including sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, ex-husband, Kevin Federline, and former co-Mouseketeer, Christina Aguilera—have vocalized their support in Spears' quest to remove her father, Jamie Spears, as conservator of her estate and end her conservatorship altogether.

On June 23, the 39-year-old pop star addressed the court for the first time in two years. Her powerful 24-minute testimony was laced with bombshell allegations about the "abuse" she has endured under her conservatorship and how "traumatized" she is as a result.

Barrymore previously revealed in February during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show that her mother, Jaid Barrymore, "put me in a place that was like a full psychiatric ward" at 13 years old:

Spears was 26 years old when she was placed under what was initially supposed to be a temporary conservatorship, and Barrymore was quick to shut down direct comparisons between her struggles and what Spears' is currently suffering through while speaking with ET: "I was also a child, she's an adult, and there's a very different thing there."

This, nor February's Stern interview, was not the first time Barrymore disclosed the darker truths to her life as a child star. Other examples can be found here or here.

The biggest development to date in Spears' case came last Thursday (Aug. 12) when news broke that Jamie Spears had agreed to step down from his conservator role, but the pending transition is far from that simple.

In the meantime, Spears has continued to be very active and transparent on Instagram despite saying she planned to share "a little less from now on" to the platform Aug. 9. Check out some recent posts below: