Drew Barrymore loves her kids, but vows to never ‘be friends’ with them.
While speaking to Demi Lovato on her podcast, “4D With Demi Lovato,” Drew and Demi chatted about being child stars and the obstacles that brings forward.
Demi, a recovering addict, and Drew a former addict, were introduced to drugs, alcohol and toxic substances at a very young age.
Demi started her career in Hollywood at the age of eight on “Barney & Friends,” while Drew is famously known for her first major movie role in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.” She was seven years old at the time the movie came out.
Drew spoke candidly about her tumultuous relationship with her mother telling Demi, “My mom would ask me if I wanted to go to school or Studio 54. I’d get my mom right to the front of the line. Studio 54, it was so fun!”
Drew was admitted to rehab by her mother at the age of 13, and by her mid-to-late teens she was emancipated from her mother by the state of California.
Despite her chaotic, unconventional upbringing, Drew said she wouldn’t change a thing.
“For whatever reasons, my mom made the choices that she did, and I just wouldn’t change a thing. I’m so happy and in love and scared of my life being any different, because this is the one I know, the one I loved and man, I worked on it really hard,” Drew said.
She detailed the struggles of life after rehab and the image she had created for herself in the industry.
She worked at coffee shops just to make ends meet and pay rent, and revealed that no directors wanted to hire a “washed up kid.”
Drew eventually got back on her feet with acting and began booking ‘B’ movies.
Since then, she has made leaps and bounds in her career.
Drew would go on to appear in the cult-classic, “Never Been Kissed,” “Ever After,” the “Charlie’s Angels” franchise and many more. She currently hosts her own TV show, “The Drew Barrymore Show.”
Drew is also a mother to two girls, Olive aged eight-and-a-half, and Frankie aged seven, whom she shares with her ex-husband Will Kopleman.
Given Drew knows what parenting is like first-hand, she and Demi discussed how her life growing up has impacted her parenting techniques.
Demi asked, “Has having kids helped you reshape or have compassion for your parents growing up?”
On the topic of the parent-child dynamic Drew revealed, “I’m having amazing realizations about my own kids and how little I understood what boundaries were. I didn’t have them growing up and when you’re a parent you compensate with so much love, and you’re almost afraid to get into the argument. Sometimes you’re just trying to survive the day, so you let things slide.”
What Drew will NOT let slide is the ‘friendship’ aspect of a parent-child relationship.
Leaning into her own relationship with her mother, and how long and hard the two have had to fight to get to where they are today, Drew is adamant she will not be friends with her kids.
“I even told my own kids, ‘I will never be your friend.’ Like I’m your parent, I’m not your friend,” Drew said defiantly.
Demi agreed with the sentiment replying, “That’s how it’s supposed to be.”
Drew admitted, “You can be friendly and do activities, it’s not that it has to be this strict relationship,” but the role of the parent/s is to be the North Star for their children.
