How Drew Barrymore's rocky childhood shaped how she parents today

Sarah Ilston
·2-min read
Photo credit: Mike Pont
Photo credit: Mike Pont

From Red Online

Drew Barrymore had experienced more trauma in her life by the age of 14 than most people do their whole lives, but now realises that her rocky childhood has had a positive impact on how she parents her two daughters.

After finding fame at the tender age of 7 — after starring in Steven Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. — a teenage Barrymore descended down an all-too-familiar child star route of drugs, alcohol and eventual emancipation from her parents at the age of 14.

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MOTHERS DAY DANCE playlist! Link in bio Here’s to all the mothers and daughters! I loved to dance with my mom, so dance. Hold on tight. Let it all go! Also, there is a playlist on my account for mellow reflection as well called MOTHERS DAY BLISS 2020 and thank you @spotify for helping to facilitate emotional rescue and exorcisms and celebrations all at the same time! Oh do I love your portal!!!!

A post shared by Drew Barrymore (@drewbarrymore) on May 11, 2020 at 3:51pm PDT

As the 45 year-old actress prepares to launch her own talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, she reflects on her wild youth, some questionable public appearances — namely lifting up her top on Late Show with David Letterman in 1995, to celebrate his birthday — and her toxic relationship with drugs and alcohol, which she details in her 1991 autobiography Little Girl Lost.

'I pushed the limits a lot, many different times in my life, Barrymore said in a recent CBS Sunday Morning interview. 'And I'm very lucky, I know that. I tested, I pushed, probably too far many a time.'

But, ever the optimist these days, she's come to the conclusion that her difficult early experiences have shaped how she parents her two daughters, Olive, 7, and Frankie, 6, who she shares with ex-husband Will Kopelman, explaining: 'I at least tried to meet that blessing with having learned something,'

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The following is a dialogue between me and my daughter... ME: Olive will you take pictures for the @theststyle photoshoot. Its for a magazine people work for years to shoot for! OLIVE: Why are you asking me to shoot you mom? And who normally shoots you? ME: A photographer. But right now, the world is in a crazy place. Everything is an opportunity to do things differently! So what do you say? Do you want to be my photographer? OLIVE:I’m honored to be your photographer. I like taking pictures, so thank you. ME: Do you promise not to shoot me from below? OLIVE: Yes. And then you won’t look like you have a very big chin ME: Oh no, I’m worried about looking like I have NO chin! When @theststyle and I talked about doing this piece, months ago, it was supposed to be about the fact that @flowerbeauty was expanding @superdrug and then it became an even more involved and personal piece .... and wait til you see what it evolved into... ready ... wait for it...

A post shared by Drew Barrymore (@drewbarrymore) on Apr 19, 2020 at 6:26am PDT

'I wanna be all about, you know, the pillars of appropriateness and decorum,' says the Santa Clarita Diet star. 'And I don't lie to my kids. I'm, like, I had to find my way here.

'So, yeah, I've lived a lot of different lives, and this is what's important to me now. But, my kids have inspired me to be the best person I have ever been in my life, and I thank them every single day for that.'

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