Drew Barrymore's Relationship With Her Mom Jaid Is Still Beyond Complicated Today
Families can be complicated at the best of times. Still, the Barrymores take complicated families to a whole new level—especially Drew Barrymore and her mom, Jaid Barrymore.
Drew hails from Hollywood royalty. Her grandfather John Barrymore was an acting icon. Her dad, John Barrymore II, was an actor too—albeit never reaching the great heights of his famous father, per IMDB. Drew's mother, Jaid Barrymore, was also an actor. However, she concentrated on her daughter's career, becoming a momager way before Kris Jenner came along and spawned the term.
Vulture reports that Drew was the most famous screen kid since the ringletted cutie Shirley Temple. She hit the big time when she was just 7, starring in the mega-smash E.T. She immediately struck up a longtime relationship with the movie's director Steven Spielberg who acted as a much-needed parental figure to the young girl as her early levels of superstardom came with the inevitable problems that haunt most child stars. Her father's short-lived career peaked before Drew arrived in the world. He spiraled into an abyss of addiction, becoming an abusive alcoholic, then fleeing and leaving Drew with her mom, sporadically appearing back in her life. Drew's mom was already controlling her image at age 7 and using her as a prop to gain entry into the top clubs of the day. It didn't take long before things went south between the mother and daughter. And Drew Barrymore's relationship with her mom Jaid is still beyond complicated today.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Mommy dearest
Given that Drew Barrymore's mom was taking her to clubs before she was even a teenager, it's hardly surprising that she turned to drugs and alcohol at a young age. Drew told The Guardian that at age 9, she was a regular at Studio 54, where Jaid Barrymore first introduced her daughter to drugs and encouraged her to dance with adult men.
Drew's bumpy sobriety journey began with her first rehab stint at age 12. But it didn't stick, and her mom checked her into a lock-down mental health facility for 18 months when she was 13. "It was like serious recruitment training and boot camp, and it was horrible and dark and very long-lived, a year and a half, but I needed it," Drew said. "I needed that whole insane discipline. My life was not normal. I was not a kid in school with normal circumstances. There was something very abnormal, and I needed some severe shift."
"It taught me the foundations of telling your truth. Not in a way that made you an immovable person on some high horse, but your story," she wrote on her blog. "Your feelings. Your faults. Your hopes and wishes. Your hurts. What and where you wanted to get to in life. And — very important — who was going to help you on your path and who would you have to let go. For me, at the end and when I got out, it was my mother."
Complicated doesn't even scratch the surface
Drew Barrymore filed for emancipation from John Barrymore II and Jaid Barrymore when she was 14. "Like, walking away from my mom and shaking hands, and saying, 'We need to emancipate,' those were just the facts," Drew told Today. "That was where our journey had led us to, and we were actually OK with that."
"It was necessary for me to step away and start to become my own person," she wrote on her blog. Eventually, Drew completely turned her life around, thanks to much hard work and more than a few mistakes along the way. However, her relationship with her mom Jaid is still beyond complicated today. Drew recently came under fire for telling Vulture she felt jealous of friends whose moms had died. "I cannot wait. I don't want to live in a state where I wish someone to be gone sooner than they're meant to be so I can grow," she said. "I actually want her to be happy and thrive and be healthy. But I have to f****** grow in spite of her."
She later clarified her comments. "Don't twist my words around or ever say that I wish my mother was dead," Drew said in an Instagram video. "I have never said that. I never would. In fact, I go on to say that I wish that I never have to live an existence where I would wish that on someone because that is sick."