Drew Barrymore just shared a powerful message about her decision to go sober

In a new interview, Drew Barrymore opened up about her decision to quit alcohol – and the freedom she found in owning her narrative.

We’re living in a powerful moment when issues that once had the power to make us live in fear and shame are being discussed out in the open. From mental health issues and eating disorders, to drug and alcohol addiction, we now know that we’re not alone in the struggles that were once kept hidden behind closed doors; and it’s helping many of us to live more authentically. 

One of the reasons that we’re growing ever more aware of these issues, of course, is down to celebrities using their platforms for social good. With a single Instagram post, or a few words on the red carpet, the transparency of our favourite famous people really can ripple around the world, bringing awareness to a wider audience and breaking the stigma that keeps many people living in silence.

Drew Barrymore is undoubtedly one person leading this new wave. In a new interview, the actor was candid about her journey to sobriety, explaining that she had previously been prone to negative thought patterns about her struggles with alcohol.

“When you are stuck in a pattern or if you are going through things and you not only admit them out loud, but you force yourself to say, ‘I’m willing to make big changes,’ I think we all think we’re very weak when we don’t make those changes,” Barrymore told Gayle King on CBS Mornings.

Those negative thoughts, Barrymore continued, were so pervasive, that they made her doubt the strength of her character.

“That inner dialogue proves to us, ‘You’re not capable of change. You are weak. You’re staying stuck’,” she said.

Nevertheless, Barrymore was able to break the cycle, finding a huge sense of “empowerment” in the process.

“And when you break that cycle, the empowerment that comes out of it, that says ‘I’m not weak, I’m actually strong, I’ve proven to myself that I am capable of change,’ and I believe people are capable of big changes.” 

Not much is known about Barrymore’s sobriety, and according to the actor, that’s a deliberate decision. In the interview, Barrymore went on to explain that she hasn’t felt the need to speak about her reasons for quitting alcohol for “years”, simply because she was on a “quiet, confident journey.”

“I just want to figure this out and go about this with no profession, no public anything,” she explained.

“Let me do this quietly and privately. And now it’s been long enough where I’m in a lifestyle that I know is really working on a high road for my little journey, and there’s so much peace finally being had where there were demons.”

Drew Barrymore has opened up about her “quiet, confident journey”to sobriety

Ahead of a new episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the actor also shared a clip of an upcoming conversation she had with Machine Gun Kelly, in which the pair spoke honestly about their mental health struggles.

“I wasn’t doing very well, and I just wanted to go talk to some people on how to pull myself out of a hole that I got stuck in, and I couldn’t pull myself out, and I just couldn’t see the light,” she began, referring to her 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman after nearly four years of marriage.

“And I had these two kids that I had to fight for and be the best person, and they always inspired me to be my best.

“And I needed help, so I started reaching out to different people, and eventually, I really made some big sweeping changes in my life and I got on a whole new track, not back on track, but a brand new one that I helped build,” she recalled.

Barrymore went on to explain that the sweeping changes came after suffering depression after her divorce, prompting her to attend a facility in Utah where she could get the help she needed.

Interestingly, Barrymore credits the conversation with Kelly in helping her to open up about her mental health issues. It was his “vulnerability,” she said, that had inspired her to offer up her own personal experiences.

“We’re in an impasse and a crux of a moment where I think talking about how we figure ourselves out, how we fix ourselves, takes a journey, solutions,” she said.

Barrymore is right: talking is incredibly powerful. But it has to be on our own terms – and choosing the right time and place to share our truth is a lesson we could all learn.

Images: Getty

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