Hollywood actress Drew Barrymore has had some highs and lows in her 48 years of life. One of the lowest times was during her 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman. This painful separation affected Barrymore so much that even her therapist ended their relationship.
Barrymore spoke with the Los Angeles Times about these dark days, she remembered how her drinking intensified when she realized that she failed to give her two daughters, Olive, 10, and Frankie, 8, a united family.
Barry Michels, her psychoanalyst got to the place where he needed to quit.
“He just said, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’” Barrymore said. “It was really about my drinking. I said, ‘I get it. I’ve never respected you more. You see I’m not getting better. And I hope, one day, that I can earn your trust back.’”
The doctor wasn’t alone, some of Barrymore’s friends expressed deep concern for her, Cameron Diaz, who has known Barrymore since they were both teens, said it was difficult to watch.
“But I knew that if we all stuck with her and gave her the support she needed, she would find her way I have absolute faith in her. You can’t even comprehend how hard it was to be her as a child, and then she shot out the other end with the ability to save herself,” Diaz said.
Even after her therapist and friends called her out, Barrymore took some time before she could stop. It was in 2019, after shooting the first episode of her daytime talk show that she quit alcohol for good.
She said the opportunity at a show like that really hit her and she knew that she could not handle it unless she was in a “really clear place.”
Two years after quitting drinking, she called Barry Michels, and they began to work together in counseling again.
“I’d always thought I’d be on this hamster wheel for this whole life. But maybe there will be something different before the lights go out,” Barrymore said.
