Drew Barrymore is reflecting on her troubled past.
Drew Barrymore is reflecting on her troubled past.
The 43-year-old actress appears on Netflix's Norm Macdonald Has a Show -- which began streaming on Friday -- where she candidly talks about using drugs, given that she infamously entered rehab at age 14. When Macdonald asks her if she misses cocaine, she replies that she definitely didn't.
“No. Oh god, I mean, it’s been a very long time, but no," she says. "Nothing would make me have a panic attack and seem like a bigger nightmare. I never did hallucinogenics ... but I drink and I enjoy my life and get out of my own head. It’s not like I’m this militant person of clarity and presence but [cocaine] literally seems like my worst nightmare right now.”
Later, she clarifies what type of drugs she was taking.
"I've never done heroin, so I don't know what that's like, but I think I liked to feel good, I'm an upper person," she says. "You know, I'm like 'Woo hoo!' I also didn't want to be like, 'Man I see sh**.' Again, I'd be like [freaks out]. I will not drink my drink at a bar that has not been in my, like, line of vision, or, like, the side cornea."
When Macdonald at one point replies that Barrymore, in fact, makes people feel like they're on drugs because she makes others naturally "happy," the actress is clearly touched.
“I'd like to," she says. "I don’t want to be an a**hole, ever.”
Barrymore delves more into her issues growing up, and how being a child actor affected her. She rose to fame when she was just seven years old, starring in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but she points out that she had technically been working since she was 11 months old.
"It really is a recipe for disaster," she says of being a child star. "But you know what's exciting? I got my sh** over with at, like, 14 -- like, midlife crisis, you know, institutionalized, blacklisted, no family, like, got it done -- and then got into the cycle of being my own parent, figuring it out."
Barrymore briefly talks about her mother, Jaid. The two had a rocky relationship throughout her career, and Barrymore was emancipated from both Jaid and her father, late actor John Barrymore, by age 14.
"I had a mom, but she was more like my best friend," she recalls. "She was like, 'Do you want to go to school and get bullied all day, or do you want to go to Studio 54?' And I was like, 'Yes, absolutely! I don't want to spend the day with these little f**kers who are just awful.' Kids are so mean."
The Flower Beauty makeup mogul says she was harshly bullied growing up because of her acting career, and also because of her lack of experience interacting with other children her own age.
"I really wasn't raised around kids, and I didn't have grandparents, so young people and old people, I was very weird around," she explains. "I didn't know what bracket of age I belonged in, but I was much happier at the clubs."
"It's sad that there's this weird alchemy about kids doping this line of work that f**ks all of them up and I'm no different," she adds.
These days, Barrymore is a mom to two daughters she shares with ex-husband Will Kopelman -- 5-year-old Olive and 4-year-old Frankie. She jokes that daughter Olive actually looks like the character E.T., and she sends Spielberg pictures.
"I can't believe my karmic destiny that I would actually birth E.T.," she jokes. "Her eyes are giant and on the side. It’s not a joke! Speaking of E.T., my daughter is like this beautiful feminine version of E.T. I send pictures to Steven all the time, and I’m like, ‘This one's the most E.T. I think.’”
Meanwhile, Macdonald recently faced criticism after telling The Hollywood Reporter that he was "happy that the #MeToo movement has slowed down a little bit." He also appeared to defend fellow comedians Louise C.K. and Roseanne Barr following their highly publicized scandals.
"There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day," he said. Of course, people will go, 'What about the victims?' But you know what? The victims didn't have to go through that."
The Tonight Show canceled MacDonald's appearance following his controversial interview, and he's since apologized on Twitter.
"Roseanne and Louis have both been very good friends of mine for many years," he wrote. "They both made terrible mistakes and I would never defend their actions. If my words sounded like I was minimizing the pain that their victims feel to this day, I am deeply sorry."
ET spoke to Barrymore in July, when she said she was single and explained why she was off dating apps. Watch below:
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