Drew Barrymore insists she ‘never said’ she wished her mother dead: ‘Don’t twist my words!’

6 June 2023

Drew Barrymore insists she “never said” she wished her mother dead.

Drew Barrymore insists she ‘never said’ she wished her mother dead

The ‘Charlie’s Angels’ actress, 48, made headlines after she opened up about her relationship with her mother Jaid Barrymore, 77, during an interview with New York magazine published on Monday (05.06.23) in which she talked about her troubled past with her mum and told how she had been jealous of friends who managed to work on their traumas after their mothers had died.

She hit back on an Instagram video in the wake of her comments from the chat being “twisted”: “I have been vulnerable and tried to figure out a very difficult, painful relationship while admitting it is difficult to do while a parent is alive.

“And, 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.

“Don’t twist my words around or ever say that I wish my mother was dead. I have never said that. I never would.

“In fact, I go on to say (in the interview) that I wish I never have to live an existence where I would wish that on someone because that is sick.”

Drew had said in her interview about other people grieving their mums: “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.

“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

“I actually want her to be happy and thrive and be healthy. But I have to f–king grow in spite of her being on this planet.”

But later in the interview, Drew expressed regret for her words, adding: “I dared to say it, and I didn’t feel good. I do care. I’ll never not care. I don’t know if I’ve ever known how to fully guard, close off, not feel, build the wall up.”

Drew, who has daughters Olive, 10, and Frankie, nine, with her ex-husband Will Kopelman, 44, has been open about her struggles to reconcile with her parents to this day.

Her mum was her manager when she was a child star and regularly took her to parties around Hollywood, including at Studio 54, which exposed her to drugs and alcohol – before she landed in rehab aged 12.

A year later, she was placed in a California mental health facility for a year and a half at the will of her mother and by 14, Drew became emancipated from her mum and dad, John Drew Barrymore, who died in 2004 following a diagnosis of multiple myeloma.