In a wide-ranging interview with the Los Angeles Times, Drew Barrymore describes how she turned to alcohol after her marriage to art consultant Will Kopelman fell apart.
The actress-turned-eponymous talk show host, who has battled addiction in the past, explained that before she quit drinking for good in 2019, her therapist quit on her.
“He just said, ‘I can’t do this anymore,'” Barrymore said of counselor to the stars Barry Michels. “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.'”
Drew’s celebrity friends supported her, the interview says. Her longtime friend and Charlie’s Angels co-star Cameron Diaz called this period “difficult to watch.” She added, “But I knew that if we all stuck with her and gave her the support she needed, she would find her way. I have absolute faith in her.”
The Drew Barrymore Show convinced the star to turn things around. “I think the opportunity at a show like this really hit me,” Drew tells the paper. “I was like, ‘I can’t handle this unless I’m in a really clear place.'”
After a rough start, the show was retooled and rebounded in the ratings; it has been renewed for a fourth season. Her therapist also took her back, she says.
Despite having been in hit movies like Never Been Kissed and 50 First Dates, Barrymore insists she’s stepping back from acting — for now: “I hate when people are like, ‘I’m retiring’ … I don’t want it to come off that way.”
In addition to hosting the show, Drew says being a mom to her daughters with Kopelman — Olive, 10, and Frankie, 8 — is “the role of my life.”
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