Drew Barrymore has hit back at tabloids for mischaracterizing comments she made about her complicated relationship with her mother.
The talk show host offered a raw take about her traumatic childhood in a profile with Vulture that came out Monday, telling the site how it’s hard to heal from the past while her mother, Jaid Barrymore, is still alive.
Though Drew Barrymore said in the interview that she “cannot wait” for the closure her mother’s death will offer, she accused media outlets of taking her words out of context in an Instagram video posted later Monday.
Taking the media to task, the “E.T.” star said, “You know what? To all you tabloids out there, you have been fucking with my life since I was 13 years old. I have never said that I wished my mother was dead. How dare you put those words in my mouth.”
“I have been vulnerable and tried to figure out a very difficult, painful relationship while admitting it is difficult to do so while a parent is alive,” she added. “And that for those of us who have to figure that out in real time, cannot wait as in they cannot wait for the time — not that the parent is dead.”
In the original Vulture interview, Barrymore admitted to being jealous of friends whose parents have died, saying, “All their moms are gone, and my mom’s not. And I’m like, Well, I don’t have that luxury. But I cannot wait.”
The actor explained, “I don’t want to live in a state where I wish someone to be gone sooner than they’re meant to be so I can grow.”
She made it clear she had no ill will toward her mother, adding, “I actually want her to be happy and thrive and be healthy. But I have to fucking grow in spite of her being on this planet.”
Barrymore instantly recognized the gravity of her words in the interview, telling Vulture, “I dared to say it, and I didn’t feel good.”
“I do care. I’ll never not care,” she said of her mom. “I don’t know if I’ve ever known how to fully guard, close off, not feel, build the wall up.”
Barrymore has been open about her complicated relationship with her mom, who blurred the lines between parent and friend by introducing her to Hollywood nightlife when she was still a child.
Barrymore’s mother sent her to rehab by the time she was 12 years old and committed her daughter to a psychiatric ward when she was 13. She was legally emancipated at 14, and these days the actor financially supports her mother but they have limited contact.
Despite the challenges of her childhood, Barrymore said doesn’t “blame” her mom for what happened in the past.
“I choose very consciously not to see my life as things that have been done to me,” she explained. “I want to see it as the things I did and chose to do. I’m not attracted to people who lay blame on others. I don’t find it sexy.”