David Crosby wanted to offer Drew Barrymore a "safe place" when she battled addiction.

David Crosby

David Crosby

The 'Charlie's Angels' star recently revealed she went to live with the Byrds star and his wife Jan when she was 14 following a stint in rehab and now the 79-year-old musician has explained how he came to invite the actress - who was legally emancipated from her parents - to his home and admitted he hoped he was a "good influence" on her.

Speaking to DJ Howard Stern, he said: "Here's what happened... We knew her because we were in recovery at that time, we were going to meetings probably three times a week, and I totally got sober.

"She was in a facility that was run by a friend of ours, and they said, 'Oh, s***, her insurance is going to run out, we're going to have to kick her out, and she's not ready, she needs a safe place to go and it can't be with her parents.'

"And she came stayed with us for a while. We took her to school in the morning and tried to be a good influence. I think we were kind and loving, and it felt good to do.

"You try to do stuff, and you're not sure how it's going to work out, I think that one worked out. I think she became a responsible human being and is a nice person."

The songwriter - who has battled drug addiction himself and even spent 11 months in jail in 1983 on drugs and weapon possession charges - insisted he was a "pretty good choice" to take Drew in as he was living a "completely" sober lifestyle at the time, even though he'd now consider himself to be a "pothead hippie".

Asked if he took an "anything goes" approach to having Drew in is home, he said: "No, it didn't work like that at all. I go through all these different phases in my life, but this is not the party me, this is me in recovery, going to bed at 10 o'clock and behaving myself, so I was actually a pretty good choice right then.

"I was really concerned with sobriety and living it completely, and you know, not like now. After it stopped snapping at my heels, my hard drug use, I started smoking pot after about 14 years of being straight.

"And now I'm definitely a pothead hippie, but when I was trying to help her, I was completely straight and going to meetings and behaving myself, and I think we were a good influence."

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