Madge compares Britney's distress to African cruelty

Washington, April 1 : Madonna has shown deep concern towards Britney Spears, comparing the troubled singer's treatment at the hands of the paparazzi to 'people inflicting cruelty and pain on each other' in Africa.

The singer, currently promoting upcoming album, 'Hard Candy,' told the latest issue of Vanity Fair that she finds Britney's situation 'very painful.'

"When you think about the way people treat each other in Africa, about witchcraft and people inflicting cruelty and pain on each other, then come back here and, you know, people taking pictures of people when they're in their homes, being taken to hospitals, or suffering, and selling them, getting energy from them, that's a terrible infliction of cruelty. So who's worse off?" Usmagazine.com quoted Madonna, as saying.

Madonna, who turns 50 in August, also opened up about her Detroit upbringing, confessing, "I didn't fit into the popular group."

"I wasn't a hippie or a stoner, so I ended up being the weirdo," she said.

"I was interested in classical ballet and music, and the kids were quite mean if you were different. I was one of those people that people were mean to," she added.

ANI