Usually, celebrities promote products, movies, and books on talk shows. Certain times, they also start the conversation turns to other topics. For example, it’s not uncommon for celebrities to mention their family or a recent vacation or experience.
But one thing that they don’t do is get open and honest about struggles they are having. However, there was a major exception on actress Drew Barrymore‘s talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show.
Apparently, Barrymore was a guest on CBS This Morning, and she discussed an interview she recently had on her talk show. She explained that she’s a fan of Machine Gun Kelly and had been trying to get him to do an interview, but he doesn’t do a lot of interviews.
Kelly admitted to Barrymore that he doesn’t always feel happy but feels pressure to smile and pretend to be happy for his fans. While he gave Barrymore a manicure, he explained, “I kind of am sick of smiling on days when I don’t feel like smiling, and I feel like this odd pressure because I don’t want my fans to think that I’m taking something for granted.” He added, “A lot of what I do is for other people, and I haven’t given myself the time to just accept that it’s ok to not be ok.”
On the show, she said, “I’m going to say something for the first time in a long time. I have not had a drink of alcohol in two and a half years.” She went on to explain, “It was something that I realized just did not serve me in my life.” She added, “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.” She continued, “When you break that cycle, the empowerment that comes out of it. I’m not weak. I’m actually strong. I’ve proven to myself that I am capable of change. I believe people are capable of big changes.”
Her journey to sobriety was done “quietly and privately.” She didn’t get professional help. She decided to do it on her own. She explained, “Now it’s been long enough that I’m in a lifestyle where 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.”
“I have not had a drink of alcohol in two and a half years. And it was something that I realized just did not serve me and my life,” she said in the interview. “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.”
“That inner dialogue proves to us you’re not capable of change. You are weak. You’re staying stuck,” Barrymore said. “And when you break that cycle, the empowerment that comes out of it 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.”
The actress hasn’t spoken up about her road to sobriety with alcohol until this point, and she revealed in the interview she wanted the experience to be a very private and personal journey.
“I just want to figure this out and go about this with no profession, no public anything. Let me do this quietly and privately,” she said. “And now it’s been long enough where I’m in a lifestyle that’s really working on a high road for my little journey and there’s so much peace finally being had where there were demons.”
“I went there to go change my life. And I went through a very painful divorce and I wasn’t doing very well,” she said on her talk show. “And I just wanted to go talk to some people about how to pull myself out of a hole. And I had these two kids that I had to fight for and I needed help.”
She asked, “Can we get to conversations that are funny and full of insight, but take back the layers so we can get to the humanity of what we’re all going through and help each other through it?”
But the actress is becoming more open with her own story and hopes to use it as an opportunity to better her own mental health. “I breathe a sigh of relief for telling my truth and I would like to move forward in a more honest fashion that is more conducive to my mental peace,” she said.
Do you think there should be more open and honest conversations on talk shows?
