Hollywood
Drew Barrymore gets real about her sobriety and divorce
The actress and daytime talk show host opens up about her relationship with alcohol over the years.
Drew Barrymore has always been open about her struggles with drugs and alcohol over the years including her first experience with rehab, which occurred when she was only 13 years old.
In a new Los Angeles Times interview, the longtime actress gets real about her sobriety after her divorce. The ‘Charlie’s Angels’ actress reveals that her drinking intensified after her 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman.
A wake-up call
While maintaining various levels of sobriety over the years, she goes on to explain she received a wake-up call when her therapist of over a decade told her that he would no longer be able to treat her.
“He just said, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’” Barrymore said. “It was really about my drinking. I said, ‘I get it. I’ve never respected you more. You see I’m not getting better. And I hope, one day, that I can earn your trust back.’”
Soon after in August 2019 after filming the pilot for her daytime talk show, ‘The Drew Barrymore Show,’ Barrymore quit drinking.
“There’s a choice to be had in how you see your circumstances, and I refuse to be stifled as a human being because of what I lived through as a kid,” she said.
She continued, “Don’t f**king cloak me in this dark s**t. I don’t want to take on anyone else’s perception of what it should have been, because I don’t feel that way. I think that I’m incredibly rebellious because of it.”
‘The Drew Barrymore Show’
Barrymore explained that her daytime talk show is what ultimately helped her quit alcohol.
“I think the opportunity at a show like this really hit me,” she said. “I was like, ‘I can’t handle this unless I’m in a really clear place.’”
She goes on to explain that although she’s been sober since then, she doesn’t like to use the word sober. She doesn’t want to be viewed as “some perfect Puritan” because she doesn’t drink.
Barrymore also explained that her decision to quit came about when she realized that she would never be able to gain the upper hand in her relationship with alcohol.
“I kept thinking, ‘I’ll master this. I’ll figure it out,’” she said. “And finally, I just realized: ‘You’ve never mastered this, and you never will.’”