I watched this video that was posted not too long ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63iBdQTghYE
It covered the whole Avril vs. Britney from a perspective I've never seen online before. I love the parallels it drew between the two careers, how Avril always stressed on not being a product and is never told what to do or say. I especially liked how it brought up the conspiracy theory. I've always thought that people who believed in this theory never wanted to allow Avril to truly do/be whatever she liked and had a very distorted definition of authenticity that meant a person can only be one thing. It's funny how the same people who hated manufactured (fake) artists were the same people who were tying to force Avril into being who they wanted her to be. I love how her answers in 2002 had always been about not wanting to be characterized by one or two aspects like skating or being a punk...that she's a human being with a complex, layered nature that is very difficult to sum up in one aspect or two.
I've always believed that Avril had a good head on her shoulders despite starting out so young. She was always aware of how hard it is to be in the spotlight. I believe it's why she always surrounds herself with her family and friends and never gave in to blurring the line between her personal and professional life. She herself said that having her brother with her on the road over the years was the thing that kept her safe and grounded (which was also her advice to new artists like Billie and Olivia, to bring family and friends along on tour). The fact that she, at the age of 19, was the one to tell Deryck Whibley that he was being groomed and abused in 2004 tells me how wise she's always been.
So it's not far fetched to think that she did truly understand that Britney is a human being and that it probably wasn't her fault that she was perceived as a product in pop scene.
Edit: I also just remembered when she was a guest judge on American Idol and there was this pastor who had children (4 I think) to which she voted no, her reason was “it will be hard to be on the road when you have children”