Drew Barrymore reckons ‘nostalgia’ and animals are ‘antidote’ to blues
After a life that saw her sent to rehab aged 13 after she got hooked on drugs and drink as a child, Drew Barrymore has said she is convinced “nostalgia” and animals are the “antidote” to depression and the world’s ills.
Drew Barrymore thinks “nostalgia” and animals are the “antidote” to depression and the world’s ills.
The 49-year-old actress became a household name after appearing as a child in ‘E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial’, and infamously got hooked on drugs and alcohol by the time she was a teen and was sent to a rehabilitation institution to get sober at the age of 13 – before she finally decided to quit booze for good in 2019 and announced her sobriety in 2021.
She has now told People about her techniques for staying upbeat: “I always find, whether it’s on (my series ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’) or in a magazine or on social media… nostalgia, like animals, give this sense of warmth and humour and joy.
“We need that in the world, we need that, probably very scientifically, we need that hit of something very positive in our brain as we’re processing the world at large, as well as our own unique little journeys that are always filled with a lot of pressures and a lot of taking care of people, and a lot of trying to navigate everything.
“I just think animals are the antidote to everything, they just make us feel so good.
“Unlike a lot of things that make us feel good too, they’re not very demanding either. We’re so lucky to have them.”
Drew recently also told People she thinks getting sober was the most “honouring” thing she has done for her alcoholism-plagued family.
Referring to her family history of alcoholism, she said: “I think, for me, stopping drinking is one of the most honouring things I can do to the Barrymore name because we have all been such hedonists.
“Don’t look to me as the pillar of health and wellness and having it all together.
“It’s just like, ‘You know what? This didn’t work for our family, and I’m going to stop it.’
“I’m going to be the one to break the link in that chain and maybe my kids and their kids will be better off for it.”
Drew comes from a long line of stars including her actor dad John Barrymore, whose siblings were Oscar-winners Ethel and Lionel Barrymore.
He struggled with alcoholism from the age of 14, while her grandad succumbed to it in 1942.
