The Inheritance of Stardom and Struggle
Drew Barrymore was the heir to a literal acting dynasty, but her inheritance also included a devastating history of substance abuse. By the time she was seven, she was the world’s most famous child after E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. However, behind the scenes, her home life was a vacuum of boundaries. Her mother, Jaid Barrymore, famously treated her like a social peer rather than a daughter, taking her to the legendary nightclub Studio 54 several nights a week instead of ensuring she attended school.
By the age of 9, Drew was drinking alcohol; by 12, she had progressed to marijuana and cocaine. The industry that had worshipped her quickly turned its back, and by her thirteenth year, she was considered “unemployable” and blacklisted across Hollywood. Her mother eventually placed her in a psychiatric institution for 18 months—a period Drew later described as a “horrible, dark, and necessary” boot camp that finally provided the discipline she was never taught at home.
The Great Emancipation: An Adult at 14
Upon her release from the institution, a 14-year-old Drew made a radical decision for self-preservation: she sued for legal emancipation from her parents. With the support of her mother and the court, she walked out of the hearing as a legal adult. This period was not the glamorous liberation one might imagine; Drew lived in a small, rundown apartment in Los Angeles, working at a coffee shop and struggling to perform basic tasks like laundry or cleaning.
In her 1990 memoir, Little Girl Lost, written when she was just 15, she recounted these struggles with a raw honesty that shocked the public. She spent the early 90s auditioning for roles that directors laughed at her for even pursuing, often taking “bad girl” parts in low-budget thrillers like Poison Ivy (1992) just to prove she could still act. It was during this “wilderness period” that she began to build the foundation of her own adulthood, choosing to self-educate and stay clean from the hard drugs that nearly ended her life.
The 90s Renaissance and the Birth of a Mogul
The true “Drew Barrymore Comeback” began in the mid-90s with a series of strategic, heart-filled roles. Her cameo in Scream (1996) signaled her return to the A-list, but it was the founding of her production company, Flower Films, in 1995 that changed everything. By producing her own hits like Never Been Kissed and Charlie’s Angels, she took control of her narrative, pivoting from the “troubled teen” to the “empowered heroine.”
Her journey, however, remained non-linear. In 2026, Drew has been candid about her more recent struggle with alcohol following her 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman. She revealed that she chose to quit drinking entirely in 2019, stating that alcohol “did not serve her” and that she needed to be fully present for her two daughters, Olive and Frankie. This second wave of sobriety coincided with the launch of The Drew Barrymore Show, where her radical vulnerability has made her a daytime staple.
As she enters her 51st year, Drew Barrymore stands as a beacon for anyone navigating the long road of recovery.