Rosie O'Donnell questions a young Britney Spears over 'disturbing' rumors in resurfaced clip

Daily Mail​

25-07-2025

A resurfaced clip of Rosie O'Donnell sharing her concern for a young Britney Spears on her show has sparked a fierce reaction online.
The talk show host, now 63, had the star on The Rosie O'Donnell Show in Miami, Florida, back in 2000, when the singer was just 18 years old.
During the episode, the pair joked around together and had a laid-back chat, before Britney, now 43, sang three of her hits.
But near the end of their interview, Rosie took some time to check-in on how the young singer was holding up amidst her immense fame, and fans are now in awe of the interaction.
In a resurfaced clip of the interview, Rosie asked, 'Can I ask you one final question before I go, Brit?'
She then questioned Britney about rumors at the time that had said she would be put in 'lockdown' before her concerts.
'What's this "lockdown" thing? It's disturbing me,' Rosie asked as Britney quickly burst into a fit of giggles at the inquiry.
'Usually, a normal day for me, I get up - like the other day, it was a Rolling Stone interview for three hours,' she responded.
'Then I come to the venue and I have two hours of press.'
Rosie interrupted the Toxic singer to ask, 'Were they nice to you?' referring to the interviewer.
She responded, 'Yeah, very nice, very nice,' to which Rosie said, 'I worry.'
'And then, I have a meet-and-greet. And it's just, like, confusion all day long, and I really, time by myself, like two hours before the show, is so sacred, my time alone is so sacred now.'
Rosie asked Britney: 'What do you do [during that time]?
The ...Baby One More Time songstress said: 'I just really focus about what I'm about to do on stage. Me and Julianne, my makeup artist, she does my makeup, we just goof around.'
Rosie quickly asked, with a concerned look on her face, 'Oh, so you are getting makeup done?'
Britney responded: 'Yeah! I'm not completely alone.'
This seemed to comfort Rosie because she said: 'Alright, because I was worried.
'I thought, I don't know what she's doing in there alone. I hope it's nothing synthetic. I didn't know. I thought, why [is she] alone?' which earned her a giggle from the singer.
People on social media acknowledged how maternal and how much of a 'good person' Rosie was after her interaction with the young pop star recently went viral.
'Rosie's got a track record of being a good person,' someone said on TikTok.
'Rosie always knows before everyone else,' another shared.
'Her mom-sense was on HIGH alert,' a different user wrote.
'Rosie's empathy and intuition is top-notch. We need more Rosies in this world,' a fourth comment read.
'She could sense how heavily controlled she was being, even back then,' someone else said.
'Rosie was so concerned. She saw all the early [red flags] and was the only brave one to ask her,' a user detailed.
One person referenced the eye contact that Rosie held with the star during the entire conversation.
'Look at how intensely she is watching Brittney answer her questions, too. She is literally looking for any sign, any hesitation, or hint that she's uncomfortable or in danger,' they explained.
Another wrote: 'Rosie was ahead of her time, asking questions and fighting for rights when it was frowned upon and brought hate. She is a legend.'
In 2021, while Britney was fighting against her father, Jamie Spears, and his now infamous conservatorship, Rosie spoke out.
Britney was placed under a conservatorship in 2008, which gave her father legal control over her personal, financial, and medical decisions for over a decade.
'I think that she needs to break free of her father and all of his little people that he has working in his world to take advantage of his daughter,' Rosie told Extra TV.
'She should get out of the conservatorship if she can, and everyone in showbiz should support her.'
In 2021, following emotional court testimony from Britney herself, the conservatorship was finally ended.