Drew Barrymore says her therapist fired her before she stopped drinking
Drew Barrymore described how she turned to alcohol after her marriage to art consultant Will Kopelman fell apart, in a recently published wide-ranging interview with the Los Angeles Times.
The actress-turned-eponymous talk show host, who has battled addiction in the past, said that before she decided to quit drinking for good in 2019, her therapist quit on her.
"He just said, 'I can't do this anymore,'" Barrymore said of her counselor, celebrity therapist Barry Michels. "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.'"
Barrymore said during that dark time her celebrity friends supported her. Her longtime friend and Charlie's Angels co-star Cameron Diaz called this period "difficult to watch." She added, "But I knew that if we all stuck with her and gave her the support she needed, she would find her way. I have absolute faith in her."
Barrymore's positive talk-show, "The Drew Barrymore Show," convinced the star to turn things around.
"I think the opportunity at a show like this really hit me," Barrymore said during the interview. "I was like, 'I can’t handle this unless I'm in a really clear place.'"
After a rough start in the fall of 2020, the show was retooled and rebounded in the ratings, and it has been renewed for a fourth season. Her therapist also took her back, she said.
Despite starring in hit movies like "Never Been Kissed" and "50 First Dates," Barrymore said that she's stepping back from acting -- for now: "I hate when people are like, 'I'm retiring' ... I don’t want it to come off that way."
In addition to hosting the show, Barrymore said that being a mom to her daughters with Kopelman -- Olive, 10, and Frankie, 8 -- is "the role of my life."
