Drew Barrymore Says Her Therapist Quit After Her Drinking Worsened in 2016
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Drew Barrymore is reflecting on the time her drinking became so bad that her therapist quit on her.
The 48-year-old recently spoke to The Los Angeles Times and opened up about how much she struggled with alcohol after her 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman. The actress said the situation spiraled so much that her therapist and renowned celebrity psychoanalyst Barry Michels ended their relationship after working with each other for a decade.
"He just said, 'I can't do this anymore,'" Barrymore told the outlet. "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.' "
Friends of the 50 First Dates star gave her a "grace period" to heal from the divorce but ultimately they staged an intervention to address her drinking. Cameron Diaz, who's been close friends with Barrymore since they were teens, admitted that the entire situation was "difficult to watch."
Diaz said she had "absolute faith" that Barrymore could get sober if they gave her the support she needed.
RELATED: Drew Barrymore Recalls the 'Awful Cycle' with Alcohol Before Getting Sober
Robin Marchant/Getty Drew Barrymore
It wasn't until 2019, after filming the first episode of her daytime talk show The Drew Barrymore Show, that the actress decided on her own to quit drinking.
"I think the opportunity at a show like this really hit me," she said. "I was like, 'I can't handle this unless I'm in a really clear place.'"
So, two years after her therapist quit on her, she reached back out to him and he decided to take her back. She said she was finally capable of changing and realized that she needed to root for herself the same way she did for everyone else.
"You seem to be so inspired by everybody else, but you treat yourself like s---," Barrymore added. "When are you going to be enough for yourself?"
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Barrymore told the outlet that she's experimented with different levels of sobriety over the years.
The star reflected on the "dark place" she's been in the past and how now she's focused on being a mother to daughters Olive, 10, and Frankie, 8, which she calls "the role of my life."
"I realized that just with me and my girls, I am truly happy," she said. "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."
