Drew Barrymore began her career as an actor with the role of Gertie in E.T. the Extraterrestrial. Since then, she’s appeared in many iconic movies during her career, including Charlie's Angels, Never Been Kissed, Poison Ivy, Donnie Darko, Mad Love, Scream, and Batman Forever. Nowadays, this actress hosts a successful talk show. Her down-to-earth personality has turned the Drew Barrymore Show into a huge success. Plus, the way Barrymore treats fans and guests has gained her more popularity. For instance, the actress and host once stopped mid-show to comfort a fan that was crying in the audience.
Most recently, Brooke Shields appeared on the Drew Barrymore Show to talk about her documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields. The two actresses shed a few tears while talking about how difficult is to grow up in Hollywood. Fans think this is Barrymore’s best interview yet.
Drew Barrymore Had A Complicated Relationship With Her Parents Growing Up
Drew Barrymore comes from a family of actors that dates back to the mid-19th century! Her parents are actor John Drew Barrymore and aspiring actress Jaid Barrymore. The relationship with her parents was so bad that the actress ended up filing for emancipation when she was fifteen.
Her father was abusive and an alcoholic. He divorced Drew’s mother when the actress was nine. Given that her actual father wasn’t a part of her life, Barrymore has always said that director Steven Spielberg had been the only father figure in her life. Despite their issues, Barrymore reconciled with her father before his death. "We buried, well we put his ashes at Joshua Tree," she admitted. "He loved Joshua Tree and I had spent a lot of time with him there whenever I visited.
Growing up, Drew also had a rather complicated relationship with her mother, who served as her manager during the early years of her career. Her mother pushed her to become a successful actor.
She even made an eleven-year-old Drew join Studio 54, where she was introduced to drugs and encouraged to dance with famous young men. This kind of lifestyle led to the young actress to end up in rehab two times before she’d even turned fifteen! Despite having a fallout with her mother after filling for emancipation, Barrymore financially sustains her mother nowadays. Their relationship is not the best but the actress is happy about it.
Brooke Shields Opened Up About How Hard It Was To Grow Up In Hollywood
Like Drew Barrymore and many other child stars, Brooke Shields went through a lot growing up in Hollywood. In her new Hulu documentary, Pretty Baby, Shields opened up about the heartbreaking experiences she went through as a child star. “I was struggling to find my own voice,” Shields explained “I wasn’t told it was important to have agency.”
Shields admits she was sexualized from a very young age. After all, she got her big break in the 1978 film Pretty Baby, where she played a 12-year-old prostitute and kiss a then-27-year-old Keith Carradine. Following the success of Pretty Baby, the star was only cast in similar roles thereafter. And the media wasn’t any help, constantly making creepy comments about the young actress’ body and appearance.
Shields also revealed that she had a complicated relationship with her mother, actress and model Teri Shields. In her documentary, Shields revealed that her mother was an alcoholic, which, in turn, made her emotionally abusive. "You never know what to expect with an alcoholic," the actress explained. "It wasn't abusive, but it was emotionally abusive because I felt sort of abandoned every time she wasn't herself." Her alcoholism worsened over the years, and in 2012, Teri passed away at the age of 79 from dementia.
Brooke Shields And Drew Barrymore Completely Broke Down During Their Interview
Earlier this year, Brooke Shields appeared on the Drew Barrymore Show to promote her documentary, Pretty Baby. During the segment, the two former child stars sat down for a heartfelt and vulnerable conversation about their shared experiences of how hard it was to grow up in the movie industry.
Shields and Barrymore found that they both had difficult relationships with their mothers growing up. “My mom, like, went and dated my boyfriends. Did you ever have that weird situation with your mom?” Barrymore asked the Blue Lagoon star.
“No, because she was in love with me,” Shields replied, explaining that her mother had no interest in dating men because she was too busy managing her daughter’s career. “I was her main focus. Both of us were cut off from our sexuality,” she explained. “I was going to stay a virgin. She was going to be just Terri terrific and being there.”
They also talked about how difficult it was to be exploited and oversexualized from a very young age. “This is gonna seem like a very weird turn,” Barrymore asked.
“But how did you feel about the Me Too movement, in the sense of, I didn't feel like I had a dog in that race.” Shields admitted that she struggled in a similar way because she found it hard to interpret her experiences. “We were so young and it was so ‘appropriate,’” Shields explained, using air quotes around the word. “I couldn’t feel sorry. I didn't even know. I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know.”
It’s no wonder why fans think that this heartfelt segment is Barrymore’s best interview to date.
