The Tragic Life of Drew Barrymore
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VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton
WRITTEN BY: Caitlin Johnson
The tragic life of Drew Barrymore may surprise you. For this video, we're looking at the early life and career of Drew Barrymore, and how she came out the other side stronger than ever. Part of a prestigious acting family and one of America's most beloved working actresses, you'd be forgiven for thinking that she's had an easy ride.
Part of a prestigious acting family and one of America’s most beloved working actresses, you’d be forgiven for thinking that she’s had an easy ride. Welcome to MsMojo and today we’ll be taking a look at the heartbreaking life of Drew Barrymore.
For this video, we’re looking at the early life and career of Drew Barrymore, and how she came out the other side stronger than ever.
The Barrymore acting dynasty dates all the way back to the 19th century, with Drew Barrymore’s great-grandfather Maurice and his wife Georgiana Emma Drew. Many of the Drews were actors as well. Her grandfather John Barrymore was one of the most renowned Shakespearean actors of the 1920s, and by 1927 the family already had a play written about them: “The Royal Family”. Even her father, John Drew Barrymore Jr., did a lot of work on TV and was in a handful of movies – though, they never took off. Unfortunately, the Barrymores also have a long history of substance problems, specifically alcoholism. Both her father and grandfather ultimately died from deteriorating health as a result of long-term alcohol abuse, and because of this, her dad was rarely present in her life.
Her first acting role came when she was only 11 months old and appeared in a commercial for Gaines-Burgers’ dog food alongside a puppy, and even at this age, she was praised for her performance. Her father was already out of her life after numerous arrests for domestic abuse and drug possession, and by the time she got her big break in “E.T.,” her mother Jaid was her primary carer. She landed the role of Gertie after impressing Steven Spielberg in an audition for “Poltergeist”. He didn’t feel like she was right for “Poltergeist” but made good on his promise to see her for something else, and she ended up giving a winning performance in what became the highest-grossing movie of the 1980s. She was just seven years old during filming, and it was soon after that she asked Spielberg if he would be her godfather, which he accepted. He remained an influential role model throughout her life, even telling her to cover up after she posed for “Playboy” when she was older.
But her sudden rise to fame was bad news. Her mother loved the limelight, and rather than make sure her daughter went through school to get a good education, she started partying and taking Drew with her. One of their regular haunts was the famous Studio 54 nightclub in New York, and it was hanging around so many older people that got her into more and more trouble. By age 9 she’d had her first drink of alcohol, by 10 she’d smoked marijuana, and by 12 she was addicted to cocaine. Shockingly, not one of the adults she found herself partying with intervened; she’d already been to rehab more than once during her early adolescence, though she said in a 2015 interview with “The Guardian” that this was the lowest point in her life. She was 13 when she was institutionalized in a mental health facility for 18 months, and traumatic as this was, it gave her the chance to finally get clean. By 1989, she was already speaking to the press about her life to try and help other young people struggling with substance abuse, giving a candid interview to “People” magazine.
It was while she was institutionalized that the medical professionals treating her suggested legal emancipation, so she could get away from the emotional abuse of her mother. Despite only being 14, everyone agreed that she would fare much better on her own than if she was still dependent on her parents. When she was 15, she was back in Hollywood living in a run-down apartment working in the service industry, already a washed-up actress who’d been through it all. After all that, you may think that she’s never had anything to do with either of her parents – but this isn’t the case. Though she was estranged from him for most of her life, she provided a home for her father and paid for all his cancer treatment before his death in 2004. And she still keeps in touch and maintains a relationship with her mother. By 16 she was sober and had already written her first memoir, “Little Girl Lost”, and was beginning to get into acting again.
She had a few roles here and there in the ‘90s, but didn’t see much mainstream success again until she opened her own film company alongside Nancy Juvonen in 1995: Flower Films. The first movie Flower Films made was 1999’s iconic romcom “Never Been Kissed”, starring Barrymore, and they went on to produce giant hits like “Charlie’s Angels” and “Donnie Darko”. More recently, they were behind Barrymore’s three-season Netflix show “Santa Clarita Diet.” Barrymore has also proven to have a lot of range as an actress, taking on the difficult role of Little Edie Beale, alongside Jessica Lange, in HBO’s “Grey Gardens”, winning a Golden Globe.
But while her career has been flourishing for decades, her relationships have been a little less consistent. She was engaged to Leland Hayward, another member of a Hollywood dynasty, when she was 16 in 1991, and just a year later she was engaged to Jamie Walters. In addition to rocky relationships with Eric Erlandson, Fabrizio Moretti, and Justin Long, she got married multiple times: after a short-lived matrimony to a bar owner in 1994, she wed comedian Tom Green in 1999 and then in 2012, she married Will Kopelman, with whom she has two daughters. Though they divorced in 2016, her daughters mean the world to her and she’s dedicated to raising them in the happy, loving home she never had. Outside of the acting world, she’s also seen success in various business endeavors, bringing out cosmetics, wines, and clothes, not to mention writing another book.
Though Drew Barrymore’s early life was incredibly troubled, it’s truly incredible to see how far she’s come, what a role model she is today, and how iconic she is both in and out of the entertainment industry. This is definitely a story with a happy ending.
For this video, we’re looking at the early life and career of Drew Barrymore, and how she came out the other side stronger than ever.
The Barrymore acting dynasty dates all the way back to the 19th century, with Drew Barrymore’s great-grandfather Maurice and his wife Georgiana Emma Drew. Many of the Drews were actors as well. Her grandfather John Barrymore was one of the most renowned Shakespearean actors of the 1920s, and by 1927 the family already had a play written about them: “The Royal Family”. Even her father, John Drew Barrymore Jr., did a lot of work on TV and was in a handful of movies – though, they never took off. Unfortunately, the Barrymores also have a long history of substance problems, specifically alcoholism. Both her father and grandfather ultimately died from deteriorating health as a result of long-term alcohol abuse, and because of this, her dad was rarely present in her life.
Her first acting role came when she was only 11 months old and appeared in a commercial for Gaines-Burgers’ dog food alongside a puppy, and even at this age, she was praised for her performance. Her father was already out of her life after numerous arrests for domestic abuse and drug possession, and by the time she got her big break in “E.T.,” her mother Jaid was her primary carer. She landed the role of Gertie after impressing Steven Spielberg in an audition for “Poltergeist”. He didn’t feel like she was right for “Poltergeist” but made good on his promise to see her for something else, and she ended up giving a winning performance in what became the highest-grossing movie of the 1980s. She was just seven years old during filming, and it was soon after that she asked Spielberg if he would be her godfather, which he accepted. He remained an influential role model throughout her life, even telling her to cover up after she posed for “Playboy” when she was older.
But her sudden rise to fame was bad news. Her mother loved the limelight, and rather than make sure her daughter went through school to get a good education, she started partying and taking Drew with her. One of their regular haunts was the famous Studio 54 nightclub in New York, and it was hanging around so many older people that got her into more and more trouble. By age 9 she’d had her first drink of alcohol, by 10 she’d smoked marijuana, and by 12 she was addicted to cocaine. Shockingly, not one of the adults she found herself partying with intervened; she’d already been to rehab more than once during her early adolescence, though she said in a 2015 interview with “The Guardian” that this was the lowest point in her life. She was 13 when she was institutionalized in a mental health facility for 18 months, and traumatic as this was, it gave her the chance to finally get clean. By 1989, she was already speaking to the press about her life to try and help other young people struggling with substance abuse, giving a candid interview to “People” magazine.
It was while she was institutionalized that the medical professionals treating her suggested legal emancipation, so she could get away from the emotional abuse of her mother. Despite only being 14, everyone agreed that she would fare much better on her own than if she was still dependent on her parents. When she was 15, she was back in Hollywood living in a run-down apartment working in the service industry, already a washed-up actress who’d been through it all. After all that, you may think that she’s never had anything to do with either of her parents – but this isn’t the case. Though she was estranged from him for most of her life, she provided a home for her father and paid for all his cancer treatment before his death in 2004. And she still keeps in touch and maintains a relationship with her mother. By 16 she was sober and had already written her first memoir, “Little Girl Lost”, and was beginning to get into acting again.
She had a few roles here and there in the ‘90s, but didn’t see much mainstream success again until she opened her own film company alongside Nancy Juvonen in 1995: Flower Films. The first movie Flower Films made was 1999’s iconic romcom “Never Been Kissed”, starring Barrymore, and they went on to produce giant hits like “Charlie’s Angels” and “Donnie Darko”. More recently, they were behind Barrymore’s three-season Netflix show “Santa Clarita Diet.” Barrymore has also proven to have a lot of range as an actress, taking on the difficult role of Little Edie Beale, alongside Jessica Lange, in HBO’s “Grey Gardens”, winning a Golden Globe.
But while her career has been flourishing for decades, her relationships have been a little less consistent. She was engaged to Leland Hayward, another member of a Hollywood dynasty, when she was 16 in 1991, and just a year later she was engaged to Jamie Walters. In addition to rocky relationships with Eric Erlandson, Fabrizio Moretti, and Justin Long, she got married multiple times: after a short-lived matrimony to a bar owner in 1994, she wed comedian Tom Green in 1999 and then in 2012, she married Will Kopelman, with whom she has two daughters. Though they divorced in 2016, her daughters mean the world to her and she’s dedicated to raising them in the happy, loving home she never had. Outside of the acting world, she’s also seen success in various business endeavors, bringing out cosmetics, wines, and clothes, not to mention writing another book.
Though Drew Barrymore’s early life was incredibly troubled, it’s truly incredible to see how far she’s come, what a role model she is today, and how iconic she is both in and out of the entertainment industry. This is definitely a story with a happy ending.
