Alex Carson
Child stars often make for some of the most tragic Hollywood stories, and the tale of Drew Barrymore is no exception. In fact, most people look to Drew Barrymore as the poster child for how early success in the industry can go wrong.
Despite the fact that Drew went through one of the most disturbing childhoods in Hollywood history, she managed to make it out of this period of her life relatively unscathed. The actress has had a much more stable adult career than many of her contemporaries, which has made it all the more surprising that she has recently given up acting almost entirely. Join Facts Verse as we try to figure out the real reason Drew Barrymore is giving up acting.
Drew Barrymore has been in the Hollywood spotlight for over four decades. In fact, she has essentially been in the Hollywood spotlight since birth. The actress came from a long lineage of entertainers and was destined for fame at an early age. Her first on-screen role occurred when she was just 11 months old, and her performance as in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial at the age of 6 made her a household name. Not all child stars are destined for downward spirals, but Drew’s mother seemed more interested in attention than raising her kid. Because of this, Drew’s behavior was allowed to spiral out of control early on.
Nowadays, the actress has given up acting and has instead turned to daytime television. Drew is now the host of The Drew Barrymore Show, looking to take the daytime spotlight away from prior power players like Ellen DeGeneres. Her new role as a talk show host comes after a decade that has seen her take a reduced role in Hollywood films. Of course, this all stemmed from her becoming a mother.
Drew entered into her third marriage in 2012, leading to Drew having her first daughter. Soon, another daughter followed. As soon as her daughters came, Drew’s first thought was that she didn’t want them to be raised like she was. Though she has expressed that she may return to acting when her children are older, she is now content with her comfy and scheduled gig as a daytime talk show host.
Drew’s decision to keep her children out of the Hollywood spotlight makes a lot of sense given her own experience in the industry as a child. Drew feels as if she has done plenty of acting for one lifetime, and has said that giving up her position was a no-brainer once her children were born.
Despite 2015’s Blended with Adam Sandler and the Netflix show Santa Clarita Diet, Drew hasn’t been seen much in the past 10 years. Audiences will now be able to see much more of her due to The Drew Barrymore Show. However, it may be a while before we see her returning to a film set. Still, she did executive produce the recent 2019 reboot of Charlie’s Angels. Drew starred in both prior Hollywood adaptations of the beloved 1970s property, and was incredibly excited to see the roles passed on to a new generation of performers.
Drew’s third husband, and the father of her two children, is a man named Will Kopelman. The two married in 2012, and divorced in 2016. According to Drew, she tried her best to make the marriage work so that her two children could be raised in a traditional household. However, it just wasn’t meant to be. Still, the marriage was far more successful than Drew’s previous two. As well, she is incredibly grateful for the relationship because it gave her two daughters.
After all that has occurred in Drew’s life, she feels lucky to have the freedom to be able to choose her career path. She has gone through an incredibly transformative journey over the course of her lifetime, and all of it has occurred in the public spectrum. Few could have predicted that the notorious child star was going to rise from the ashes of her lowest points to become the successful Hollywood figure that she is today. Having dabbled in producing and directing, on top of being one of the most successful actresses in the industry, few figures have attained the status that she has.
To truly understand Drew’s life today, we have to take a look at the tragic story of her Hollywood upbringing. After her success in 1982’s E.T. the Extra Terrestrial under the direction of Steven Spielberg, Drew had a long and difficult journey ahead of her into adulthood. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support! As well, subscribe to the channel if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
Drew Barrymore initially auditioned for the Steven Spielberg production Poltergeist, directed by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s Tobe Hooper. Though she didn’t get a role that time, Spielberg was impressed by the young girl and cast her in 1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Her role in that seminal science fiction film rocketed her into stardom, and that stardom lead to a lifestyle of early childhood debauchery.
Drew has shared that her mother used to take her to clubs during the early 1980s. Sometimes they went out five times a week, and Drew was often left unsupervised as her mother socialized. This allowed Drew to get into drugs and alcohol at an incredibly early age.
Drew has shared that the first time she ever got drunk was at a large birthday party being held for Rob Lowe. At the time, Drew was only nine years old. A year later, Drew began smoking marijuana. By the time she was 11 years old, she could hold her own partying alongside a heavy metal rock band… something that she actually did while left alone behind the scenes of 1986’s Babes in Toyland. By the age of 12, she had developed a full-blown cocaine habit.
By the age of 13, Drew had been sent to drug rehabilitation clinics on two separate occasions. However, neither attempted rehabilitation worked. Although it initially seemed that the young star had given up her partying ways, Drew decided to smoke some marijuana with her friends to celebrate six months of sobriety. The ensuing night saw the girls get into a car accident. Drew received some severe injuries, but nothing that did permanent damage. However, it was one incident that proved to the young actress that maybe drugs weren’t all that they were cracked up to be.
Soon after her car accident, Drew Barrymore attempted suicide. The actress was still just 13 years old. This attempt landed her in a mental institution for a period of 18 months. Drew has expressed that her stay in the institution was tough, but that it played a huge role in helping her overcome the traumas and mistakes of her young life. By the time she was released, it appeared that Drew really was ready to leave her past behind her. Drew emancipated herself from her mother and began taking minor steps towards rehabilitating both her image and her career.
Drew was successfully emancipated from her mother at the age of 14, something that her mother encouraged. For all her mother’s mistakes, she has shown remorse over the years about what she allowed to happen to her daughter.
Drew knew that she was better off alone, and her mother agreed. Drew was now on her way to becoming the beloved and innocent adult Hollywood actress we know from films like 1999’s Never Been Kissed. However, despite the fact that Drew avoided any huge controversies after her emancipation, her transformation from wild child to mature Hollywood star didn’t occur overnight.
According to Drew, the moment that she became the Drew Barrymore of her adult years occurred when she viewed her 1995 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. That appearance notoriously saw Drew flashing the host, something much more in line with her wild days of yore than who she was in 1995. Although the actress thought it was a fun and crazy thing to do on set, she had a revelation when she saw the incident played back on the broadcast.
According to Drew, she began to see herself in a much different light after that broadcast. From then on, she vowed to live a much more modest and respectable lifestyle, especially in the public spotlight. She began consciously refraining from sex scenes and nudity in her film roles, and appeared in Never Been Kissed only a few years later.
For those that don’t know, Never Been Kissed is about an adult woman that has literally never been kissed. This was the perfect role to represent Drew Barrymore’s return to innocence after a childhood that deprived her of it. Drew’s story may be tragic, but it is also incredibly inspiring. It is no wonder that Drew has chosen to do her best to keep her children out of the film industry.
Before marrying the future father of her children in 2012, Drew had been married twice previously. She was married once to a British bar owner named Jeremy Thomas in 1994, though that marriage lasted less than two months. The two tied the knot while inebriated, a decision that rarely ever works out. Many years later, Drew married MTV comedian Tom Green. This marriage lasted a little longer, but only a little. They were married in 2001, and divorced in 2002.
Drew Barrymore’s story proves that you can turn your life around no matter how dark things get, and that you don’t have to pass your own childhood traumas onto your children. Fans can look forward to Drew Barrymore’s potential return to Hollywood once her kids become more independent. In the meantime, you can tune in to The Drew Barrymore Show and see her almost everyday!
Drew Barrymore has certainly been in plenty of movies over her long career. Comment down below to share what your favorite Drew Barrymore role is, or if you think she should return to movies sooner rather than later. As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
