Drew Barrymore: Wild Childhood = Rocky Love Life
Drew Barrymore has blamed her turbulent love life on her troubled childhood -- insisting that she never learned about real relationships while she was growing up. Barrymore infamously got hooked on drugs at an early age, smoking her first cigarette at age 9, before entering rehab at 13.
As an adult, Barrymore married and divorced twice -- her first marriage lasted ten months; her second, fifteen -- and was briefly engaged to a third man before dating a string of famous lovers. The actress insists that she struggled to settle down because of lessons learnt from her parents, John and Jaid Barrymore -- who split before she was even born.
Drew accepting the Vanguard Award the GLAAD Media Awards, April 2010. The Vanguard Award is given for promoting equal rights for LGBT individuals, and previous winners include fellow former child star, Elizabeth Taylor.
She says, "I have never really understood how I should feel or behave in a relationship. I didn't have the kind of childhood that would have given me any sort of perspective on what a happy home or relationship would feel like. You can't live your life blaming your failures on your parents. You're dealt the cards you're dealt. I realized it was a waste of time to be angry at my parents and feel sorry for myself."
"I used to pull a lot of emotion from all the stuff with my family, but I have been much more objective about my childhood and my relationship with my mother in these last few years. But I won't deny that the baggage was there at some point."
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Drew Barrymore is so admirable. She serves as both a cautionary tale and a success story to current young actresses: an example of far and how hard you can fall, but also of how triumphantly you can fight your back to the top. Tatum O'Neal, in her autobiography, gave her similarly-scarred childhood as one the reasons that her marriage to John McEnroe collapsed. It's unfortunate for both of them, because everyone deserves to find love, including former child stars. I hope that no current young actresses will have this problem later.
As an adult, Barrymore married and divorced twice -- her first marriage lasted ten months; her second, fifteen -- and was briefly engaged to a third man before dating a string of famous lovers. The actress insists that she struggled to settle down because of lessons learnt from her parents, John and Jaid Barrymore -- who split before she was even born.
Drew accepting the Vanguard Award the GLAAD Media Awards, April 2010. The Vanguard Award is given for promoting equal rights for LGBT individuals, and previous winners include fellow former child star, Elizabeth Taylor.
She says, "I have never really understood how I should feel or behave in a relationship. I didn't have the kind of childhood that would have given me any sort of perspective on what a happy home or relationship would feel like. You can't live your life blaming your failures on your parents. You're dealt the cards you're dealt. I realized it was a waste of time to be angry at my parents and feel sorry for myself."
"I used to pull a lot of emotion from all the stuff with my family, but I have been much more objective about my childhood and my relationship with my mother in these last few years. But I won't deny that the baggage was there at some point."
______________
Drew Barrymore is so admirable. She serves as both a cautionary tale and a success story to current young actresses: an example of far and how hard you can fall, but also of how triumphantly you can fight your back to the top. Tatum O'Neal, in her autobiography, gave her similarly-scarred childhood as one the reasons that her marriage to John McEnroe collapsed. It's unfortunate for both of them, because everyone deserves to find love, including former child stars. I hope that no current young actresses will have this problem later.