Drew Barrymore, mom to 3-year-old Olive and 18-month-old Frankie, recently published her autobiography, “Wildflower.” In it, she discusses how she suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of her second daughter. Barrymore, who began her conversion process after marrying her Jewish husband, said she’s since dedicated her life to parenting, although it hasn’t been an easy journey.
In an interview, Barrymore talks about her public childhood and deeply complicated relationship with her mother. It’s no secret she rose to fame at just 7 years old after “E.T.” came out in 1982. In her book, however, she writes about how her mom barely supported her growing up as a child star, stating, “Zero protection, zero consistency.” By age 14, Drew was emancipated from Jaid, her mother.
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Despite her difficult and odd childhood, she says it’s made her a better mom:
“In the ’80s, you know, I was, like, on the cover of the National Enquirer. And that is just the worst feeling, ever. But, on the other hand, having a very public experience when I was young taught me a lot about responsibility in a weird way. It definitely gave me a wake-up call of, like, OK, if everyone’s gonna know your business, maybe you’d like your business to be really classy. And that’s a hard lesson, but it was a very good lesson for me.”
We’re glad Barrymore not only found happiness and security with her family, but that she’s willing to discuss the less manicured, more difficult periods of her life in order to shed awareness on depression. And to illustrate that it does, in fact, get better.
