Drew Barrymore Opens Up About Being 'Institutionalized' By Her Mother: 'She Created A Monster'
Demi Lovato released a new documentary on Hulu, 'Child Star,' which focuses on just that – children who grew up in the limelight and the impact it had on them. One such star interviewed during the documentary is Drew Barrymore.
Barrymore opened up during the new documentary about being put in a psychiatric institution by her mother.
The 49-year-old recalled how she "was in a place for a year and a half called Van Nuys Psychiatric and you couldn't mess around in there... If you did, you'd get thrown either in the padded room or get put in stretcher restraints and tied up."
While the institution was decidedly intense, the now talk show host revealed that this was the only break she had from work as a child. Her career started with "a Gainsberg puppy chow commercial, and I never stopped working since then, except for when I was institutionalized by my mother."
As an adult, she looks back at her time at the institution with understanding for her mother. "I think after, you know, 30 years of therapy... I think she created a monster... and she didn't know what to do with the monster." She added: "She probably felt like she had nowhere to turn... I'm sure she lived with a lot of guilt... but then I think she lived in a lot of pain that I also wouldn't talk to her for a long time."
Barrymore battled with addiction for several years, struggles she has discussed in her own memoirs. "I was going to clubs and not going to school and stealing my mom's car," she recalled. "Sometimes it was as humorous as that and sometimes I was just so angry... I'd get thrown in 'the thing.' "
The '50 First Dates' star's time being institutionalized served as a wake-up call for the young actress. "I asked myself like why is this happening?... maybe it's going to take something like this for you to kickstart the rest of your life."
