Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Gellar’s No Britney

Sarah Michelle Gellar gets upset when people get a laugh at Britney Spears’s expense. “It’s not something to joke about,” she says of the continuing saga of Brit’s unhinged life.

Ironically, in her current big screen role in The Air I Breathe, Gellar plays a pop star who is self-destructing, but she insists that any resemblance to Spears is unintentional. “It wasn’t based on anybody in Hollywood, even if some things seem similar,” she says. “I’ve met Britney a few times and seen her perform. I think what has happened to her is heart-wrenching. It’s really sad.”

Playing the role made Gellar realize that behind the fan frenzy and ceaseless barrage of media scrutiny is a lot of emptiness for some young teen idols. “Honestly, without sounding corny, it gives you a sorrowful experience when you realize how lonely and how isolated these girls must be,” she says. “At least that’s the insight that I got.”

Gellar reveals that she can relate even though her own career has been upwardly mobile, and she’s happily married to Freddie Prinze, Jr. “You become an actor, and people have all these ideas of who they think you are so when they meet you it’s almost already decided,” she says. “You don’t have that luxury of people meeting you for the first time and knowing nothing about you. And it’s hard when you hear people say not so nice things. It’s really difficult to be strong through that.”

I found out that Sarah Michelle had to be strong during some of the scenes in The Air I Breathe as she was knocked around and threatened by real-life friend Andy Garcia, who co-stars as a ruthless mob boss. “I know Andy as a great father and as this neat guy to have dinner with,” she says. “But in this movie, he’s incredibly intimidating. Let me tell you, when you have Andy Garcia waving a gun and yelling in your face, you back down. It’s incredibly scary. For a second, that line gets crossed as to whether or not this is real, or this isn’t real."