Rosie O'Donnell Compares Britney to Princess Diana

TUESDAY JANUARY 15, 2008 01:35 PM EST

In what reads like a cautionary tale, Rosie O'Donnell, who before has risen to the defense of Britney Spears, is again back in the corner of the troubled pop star.

This time, O'Donnell, 45, suggests that being a paparazzi magnet could cause the 26-year-old singer to meet the same tragic fate as Princess Diana.

"There are only inches of separation between vulnerability and disaster," observes O'Donnell.

Writing on her own blog for an entry Tuesday, the former View host writes (with "she" obviously referring to Spears, who is never named in the entry, and "they" meaning the paparazzi):

"I'm scared," she told them yesterday, when they later mobbed her at court. "Move back," she said. "I'm scared. Stop it. Stop it. I want to get back in the car. Just stop it. Let me get in the car, please."

Referring to Spears's quick stop at a church Monday, O'Donnell writes: "She will be trying to get away, but they will chase her, just as they chased her into that church yesterday ... Even her last-minute, folded-hand prayers can't be kept sacred."

Painting a sympathetic portrait of Spears, O'Donnell notes: "At eight years old, she bravely stood before a microphone. By 17, she had sold 25 million records."

With Spears having been robbed of a typical childhood, O'Donnell asks on her behalf, "Where were the sidewalk-skinned knees, the chalk-stained hands, the monkey bars, the passed notes? A Disney set is not a childhood, no matter how many bright colors they use, or how cheerful the script."