Coming Face to Face with Addiction: Drew Barrymore’s Addiction Recovery
We’ve seen her memorable performances in Spielberg’s E.T, her heartthrob romcom years in Never Been Kissed, The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates, and in recent years interviewing on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’; but what of Drew herself do we know?
Drew Barrymore’s Addictions: From Hollywood to Rehab
Barrymore has spoken out about her rocky childhood and early life, involving coming to grips with her fame as a child actor, which partly contributed to her involvement with substance abuse at such a young age.
Developing Addiction: Drew’s Childhood Neglect, Denial & Shame
Barrymore started drinking alcohol at the age of 9 when her mother took her to a Studio 54 club in New York City, multiple nights a week, where she was surrounded by celebrities and encouraged to participate in nightlife. Alcohol turned to cannabis, and then cocaine, leading Drew to be sent to rehab at age 12 to be treated for addiction.
Her admittance into an institution at 13 and later again at 14 was a significant eye-opener to reality and her self-denial about addiction. Her troubles with alcohol spanned throughout her life and her non-linear recovery from addiction remains inspiring to all fans and people who relate to addictive behaviours.
Drew has spoken about how she “did not take it seriously” when first admitted and that it took listening to others talk about their addictions that she “began to examine [her] own behaviours and feelings and realised that [she] had an extremely addictive personality.” (Drew Barrymore, People Magazine, 1989)
Something that often comes naturally with acceptance of addiction is the feeling of shame, and Barrymore explains that during her institutionalisation, “Shame entered the picture,” Barrymore said. “But in this institution, it was the opposite. It was, ‘Open up! Share!’” (Barrymore, 2013, Today). Through sharing her emotions, and experiences with drugs and alcohol, and accepting her addictive behaviours, this helped her understand her needs moving forward.
After practising therapies, counselling and participating in support groups, Drew left rehabilitation and was granted emancipation from her mother, to become an adult at 14 and live her life independently. She describes her experience in rehab as a positive and necessary step towards sobriety, “It was a very important thing to experience for me. It was very humbling, very quieting. Maybe it was necessary because I came out of there a more respecting person. And my parents didn’t teach me that, and life wasn’t teaching me that. I came out in a very different way… but I still was me.” (Barrymore, The Guardian 2015).
Although she overcame her addiction to drugs after rehab, she never gave up alcohol and later in life following her divorce, Drew became reliant on alcohol once more.
Alcohol Addiction as a Genetic Disease
With a family history of alcoholism and drug use, Drew Barrymore was no stranger to the effects of substance abuse. Drew comes from a lineage of family actors, many of whom also experienced addiction, or even passed away due to overdose. Drew’s father was a heavy drinker, as was his father before him who died from alcoholism and Drew’s aunt too died from drug overdose.
With a childhood that exposed her so much to drugs and alcohol, even more so as she rose to fame, at only the age of 9 she got wrapped into a life no child should be exposed to. Diving into partying before she even entered her teens, Drew’s childhood was more than unconventional. It was almost inevitable that Drew would develop addictive behaviours, being forced to grow up quickly, constantly surrounded by excessive drinking as well as her genetic makeup that increased her risk of addiction.
Drew gave up drinking in 2019. With the struggles of her divorce, and the devastation that the life she wanted for her children hadn’t gone to plan. Drew has spoken about how her therapist of years, left her when she returned to alcohol, as Drew had to get back on the horse by herself, just like her experience as a teen in rehab. She returned to her therapist, mending their relationship once alcohol was cut down and put in the past. She says, "I think, for me, stopping drinking is one of the most honouring things I can do to the Barrymore name because we have all been such hedonists." (Barrymore, People Magazine)
By no means is any recovery process easy, and Barrymore’s life story remains one that sticks with us as poignant, yet she is thankful for her life and non-regretting looking back.
Addiction Recovery: Drew Barrymore’s Journey Continues
The Drew Barrymore Show enabled Drew to throw herself into a job that gave her a new focus and guidance, something her jobs have always meant to her as she started out working so young. As we see Drew now, she shines on the screen of her talk show as she opens up with guests and even the audience, discussing real stories and real emotions.
Barrymore added: “I think through this show, it’s given me a lot of courage and time to ask people questions and to listen and to learn from other people, and to make this show an application of not like, ‘Let’s just talk to celebrities - let’s really talk to every kind of human being on the planet, with all due to respect to my own industry. I want to hear from everyone, How do you live a life? It’s become so much bigger to me of a mission of listening and learning with people, that it’s given me the chance to re-examine my own existence, and I’m so grateful for that. I’m growing in this job in a way that I haven’t grown in other jobs.”
It sounds a lot like Drew continues to learn about herself through others and through sharing life experiences. Just like her rehab taught her, you’re not alone in your feelings and you can reach out for help and support to better your life. No matter how low you feel, how far things have gone or how many times you fall into old habits, addiction recovery remains continuous and so many stories remind us that leaving addiction in the past is possible.