Drew Barrymore Calls Motherhood ‘Surreal’ in an Emotional New Interview: ‘There’s Nothing I’ve Ever Wanted to Get More Right’
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She’s had 11 years to wrap her head around motherhood, but Drew Barrymore will be the first to admit she’s still figuring it all out (just like us!).
The multi-hyphenate is mom to daughters Olive, 11, and Frankie, 9, with ex Will Kopelman. While she may look like she has it all together, the fears and anxieties of motherhood are ever-present, and it’s refreshing to see. The Drew Barrymore Show host broke it down in a new cover interview with Us Weekly, and it’ll make you feel so seen.
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Motherhood Is ‘Surreal’
“[Motherhood is] so surreal [for me],” Barrymore told the outlet. “When I see one of my kids going through something that reminds me of something I went through, I just go straight to fear, and then I have to talk myself off the ledge and get proactive and empathetic and [focus on] discipline and boundaries and guidance.”
She often asks herself, “How am I going to handle this? Do I have the skill set to fix this?” After so many years of practice, you would think moms would be up for the challenge of anything — but kids are constantly changing and new situations are always coming up, so it’s impossible for one person to ever have it all figured out. (No matter what social media may have you believe.)
For Barrymore, she just wants to do her best. “I have no blueprint, a crazy track record, and there’s nothing I’ve ever wanted to get more right in my life,” she said. “But it isn’t a matter of right and wrong. It’s a matter of doing your best.”
Work Hard
Putting the work in helps, too. “Also doing a lot of work and research. The answer doesn’t just land in your lap. You’ve got to go out there and mine for it. Put on that headlamp and go figure it out,” she explained.
Barrymore added, “Everyone [talks about] that selfish thing with the oxygen mask where you put it on yourself first. I don’t know how to do that. My kids are my North Star. I like myself a lot better as the person I’ve forced myself to become in honor of them.”
Adjusting to Co-Parenting
The 50 First Dates star has had to be flexible throughout her parenting journey, like when she divorced her husband in 2016. “After the life I planned for my kids didn’t work out — I almost think that was harder than the stuff [I went through] as a kid,” Barrymore told PEOPLE in Dec. 2022. “It felt a lot more real because it wasn’t just me. It was about these kids that I cared so much about.”
“And then I probably cared so much that I was only giving to them and not taking care of myself. It was a messy, painful, excruciating, ‘walk through the fire and come back to life’ kind of trajectory,” Barrymore told the outlet, adding that she tried to “numb the pain and feel good” through alcohol. Ultimately, her kids helped her decide to give up drinking and go to therapy. The E.T. star explained, “It was my kids that made me feel like it’s game time.”
Now, she is close to Kopelman and his new wife Allie Michler. “The cool thing is all these years later, we do have the dream,” she said. “It’s just different than the one I swore would be the case.”
Barrymore is still figuring it out, and we appreciate the way she embraces the complicated, messy, and beautiful sides of motherhood for us to see. She’s doing a great job in our book!
These celebrities are focused on raising their kids to be good humans.
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