'Britney couldn't cope with fame'

Moby - who collaborated with Britney 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.

"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?'"

"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."