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Imagine your mother pouring liquor on your ice cream when you're only 8 years of age , being hooked on cigarettes , cannabis and cocaine by the age of 12 . Imagine having your first rehab stint at 13 , only then to be locked up in a psychiatric ward . Well , imagine no more .
What I've just described is the real life story of one of the brightest stars Hollywood has ever known Drew Barrymore . You're going to learn all about it , as well as how she eventually managed to find sobriety coming right up . Born in California in 1975 , barrymore was marked for the silver screen already as a young child .
Her parents were both actors and her grandfather , john Barrymore , was a famous actor in the 1920s and 30s . Drew would get her first acting experiences only a few months after being born , appearing in commercials and other small roles . At the tender age of 7 , she would land the acting role that would define her future career .
That was the year she successfully auditioned for a role in the sci-fi blockbuster ET the Extra Terrestrial . The film tells the story of a well , an extra terrestrial accidentally stranded on earth during a secret mission . Elliot , a young schoolboy , soon finds and befriends ET , eventually helping him return home .
The film would go on to win four Academy Awards , spend a record-breaking 16 weeks at the top of the box office and eventually become the highest-grossing production of all time . Overnight , barrymore was propelled to superstardom , becoming a recognizable face all across the world .
Though she would soon run into a rough patch that threatened to end her career entirely , which will come too shortly , she would eventually go on to start in a number of other blockbuster hits . These included , among many others , the wedding singer Charlie's Angels , and he's just not that into . Her net worth today is estimated at around a whopping $125 million .
From what we just said , you might have gotten the impression that it's been all roses for Barrymore , and while money or fame were never in short order for her , she has had her fair share of struggles , and most of these were well publicized .
Her father was an alcoholic and drug addict , leaving her mother no choice but to divorce him and raise Drew on her own she was only a few months old at the time as a child . This was something that was very hard for Drew to swallow , leading her to resent her mother . But there was more to it than that .
Her mother never quite succeeded as an actress and , by all accounts , she was determined that her daughter not meet the same fate . After ET , she started taking the young Drew to nightclubs and other adult establishments to socialize with celebrities . Before long , the young Drew was introduced to alcohol at just eight years of age .
Cigarettes followed her short time later , before giving way to cannabis and eventually cocaine . Her drinking soon got so out of control that she became addicted to alcohol . She had her first stint at rehab when she was only 12 . Around this time she also attempted to kill herself with a knife .
By the age of 13 , things had gotten so out of control that her mother committed her to a psychiatric ward . She would spend a year and a half there , and this was no joke . This was a hardcore psychiatric facility where not behaving could leave you in isolation or put in restraints .
To this day , barrymore jokes about how other stars spending 30 days in a luxury rehab is well a walk in a park compared to what she went through While harsh . In other interviews , the stars described the experience in a positive light .
Quote it was like serious recruitment training and boot camp , and it was a horrible and dark and very long-lived year and a half . But I needed it . I needed that whole insane discipline . While at the facility , the medical staff realized that part of the problem was actually down to her mother .
At their recommendation , she went to court to seek her emancipation , and emancipation is basically a legal process where the courts decide that a minor can be set free from the supervision of their parents . The minor is then able to live and function as an adult , entering into contracts and making all their own decisions without their parents' involvement .
To qualify for emancipation , the minor must meet certain criteria , chief of which is economic self-sufficiency . The court granted her the emancipation , meaning that she was legally entitled to live completely on her own .
Looking back on the entire situation today , barrymore sums it up as her mother creating a monster and then not knowing what to do with him , and emancipation was the chance for her to wipe the slate clean . By that point , however , her acting career was in tatters .
Having not landed a major role for years and with a heavily tarnished reputation , the young Barrymore felt like her acting days were over For a while . She ended up working as a waitress in a cafe , a job which she admits that she absolutely was terrible at .
Eventually , she was able to find work in Hollywood again , first in some minor films , before eventually landing roles in box office hits like 2000s , charlie's Angels . Barrymore would go on drinking for decades . Her drinking was never at a level where things got visibly out of control , at least not to her millions of fans around the world .
There were no public breakdowns , problems with law enforcement or things of this kind , but at the end of the day it wasn't good . According to Cameron Diaz , barrymore's longtime friend and co-star on the set of Charlie's Angels , things started to deteriorate after the breakdown of her third marriage .
After her marriage fell apart , barrymore once again turned heavily to booze . She reportedly caused her longtime therapist to terminate her as a client and led to the loss of some friends . As Barrymore would later describe , the divorce left her with the bitter aftertaste of death Quote there was no scandal , nothing went wrong .
Which is cleaner , but makes it harder and more confusing , but there isn't the thing to point to . You try so hard to make it work . A friend said to me , divorce is the death of a dream . That's exactly what it feels like something so final . You can't get it back In 2021, .
Baramal made an announcement that put a big smile on her fans and followers worldwide . In an interview on CBS's this Morning Show , the star revealed that she hadn't touched a drop of alcohol in two and a half years . Let's have a look .
I have not had a drink of alcohol in two and a half years and it was something that I realized just did not serve me in my life .
When you are stuck in a pattern , or if you are going through things and you not only admit them out loud but you force yourself to say I'm willing to make big changes , I think we all think we're very weak when we don't make those changes .
That inner dialogue proves to us you're not capable of change , you are weak , you're staying stuck and when you break that cycle , the empowerment that comes out of it , that says I'm not weak , I'm actually strong . I've proven to myself that I am capable of change and I believe people are capable of big changes .
After keeping quiet about things for so long , byron Moore nowadays has no problems opening up about her past alcohol problems . Looking back , she describes her drinking days as well . The only way I think one can rationally describe alcohol addiction a prison .
It's awesome that she's so candid about her past and putting a story out there for the benefit of others who might struggle . Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking podcast by sober clear . If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom .