Drew Barrymore Wanted To 'Break The Chain' Of Barrymore Alcohol Abuse

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | April 16, 2024 |

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | April 16, 2024 |

As we all know, Drew Barrymore is the ultimate Hollywood nepo baby/grandbaby/great-grandbaby/niece/grandniece/great grandniece — oh no, I’ve gone cross-eyed.

But the Barrymores aren’t just famous for their acting careers; they’re also known for their substance abuse issues. Drew quit drinking a few years back, and, in a new interview with PEOPLE, she’s talking about how proud she is of breaking “the link” in her family’s “chain” of addiction:

“I think, for me, stopping drinking is one of the most honoring things I can do to the Barrymore name because we have all been such hedonists.”

“Don’t look to me as the pillar of health and wellness and having it all together,” she says. “It’s just like, you know what? This didn’t work for our family, and I’m going to stop it. I’m going to be the one to break the link in that chain and maybe my kids and their kids will be better off for it.”

Drew adds that everyone needs to “fight genetic follies that our families bring to us.”

Quick Barrymore dynasty recap: Drew’s grandfather, John Barrymore (the old-timey mustachioed man on the left), one of the biggest actors of his day, drank himself to death at age 60. Drew’s father, John Drew Barrymore (on the right), struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction. He passed away from cancer in 2004, at age 72. John Jr’s older half-sister (Drew’s aunt, John’s daughter), Diana Barrymore, also suffered from alcoholism, drug addiction, and severe depression. She died in 1960, at age 38.

As the Hollywood legend goes, our lady Drew was sent to rehab at age 13. Before that, her mom was cool with her literal child going out to party five nights a week. By 11, Drew had developed a drinking problem. At 12, she got addicted to cocaine. After rehab and a year-and-a-half-long stay in a mental institution, Drew got clean and became a successful, seemingly well-adjusted movie star.

But Drew struggled after her 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman. She was devastated that the life she planned for her two daughters “didn’t work out”, and she began to rely on drinking: “It was just trying to numb the pain and feel good — and alcohol totally did that for me.” It took a lot of therapy for Drew to realize she needed to quit. Since then, she’s been vocal about her sobriety. Which I love, personally. No, celebs don’t owe it to us to talk about their struggles with booze and drugs, but it truly does help those of us going through similar issues.

Apparently, many of John Barrymore’s later film roles referenced his well-known alcohol problem and messy personal life (four divorces!). Here he is playing a drunken has-been actor in Dinner at Eight (1933), about nine years before his death: