How Drew Barrymore Turned Her Sour Relationship With Her Mom into a Healthy One: 'I Can't Turn My Back on Her'

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By Jo Anne Hubert , Parent Herald Jan 02, 07:10 am

Photo: (Photo : Getty Images/John Lamparski)

The Hollywood A-list made headlines when she won emancipation from her parents at 14. Jaid Barrymore is an actress known for taking her then-nine-year-old daughter, Drew Barrymore, to Studio 54.

This is an image the public would not forget about how inappropriate and hurting Drew's childhood was and how her relationship with her mother turned sour.

However, as a mother herself now, Drew expressed how, despite everything, she will always be there for her mother if she needs her.

In an exclusive interview with People, the talk show host and author stated, "I will always support her. I can't turn my back on the person who gave me my life. I can't do it. It would hurt me so much. I would find it so cruel. But there are times where I've realized that our chemistry and behavior will drum up a feeling in me where I have to say, 'Okay, I need a break again.'"

Letting go of the 'guilty little girl'

The actress revealed that they have established "a lot of boundaries" and taken many "healthy pauses" in their lives, which are needed for their relationship to stay and improve.

Drew admitted that it was hard to set those lines before, yet she feels more confident in setting the limits.

She expressed that the older she gets, the less guilt, discomfort, and "corrosive, toxic shame" come from it. She realized that at one point in her life, she had to let go of that "guilty little girl," who's always been so depressed about not having the perfect nuclear family relationship.

Further, she said that she will always have this "cosmic, magnetic pull" toward her parents, which comes from the burning desire to heal from the brokenness and get right with life.

According to US Magazine, over the years, the actress was able to forgive her mother and even her father, John Drew Barrymore, with whom she reconciled. She found and paid for hospice care for her father until he died of cancer in 2004.

A generation of actors

The host of The Drew Barrymore Show also shared how she can feel the pull of her family's passion for acting and performing, with her great grandparents, grandfather, and great uncle and aunts known to be renowned actors.

Drew declared that her career is not out of obligation, but this pull or "magic" in genetics compels her to do and love what she does, Yahoo Entertainment reported.

She revealed how she has a small TV in her kitchen that is turned on and tuned in to Turner Classic movies because, for her, it's a "portal." Her family comes and visits her through it. She said she would walk into her kitchen and see Lionel, John, Ethel, or her dad and "literally gasp for air."