Drew Barrymore Hits Back After Comments About Her Mom Were Taken out of Context

By Daniel S. Levine

Drew Barrymore hit back at tabloids that turned the discussion about her mother in a new profile into a headline claiming she wished her mother was dead. In reality, she was explaining how difficult it was to come to terms with a difficult relationship with a parent who is still living. She even went on to say she would never "not care" about her mother Jaid.

"To all you tabloids out there, you have been f—ing with my life since I was 13 years old. I have never said that I wished my mother was dead," Barrymore said in an Instagram video Monday evening. "How dare you put those words in my mouth. I have been vulnerable and tried to figure out a very difficult, painful relationship while admitting it is difficult to do while a parent is alive and that, for those of us who have to figure that out in real time cannot wait... as in they cannot wait for the time, not that the parent is dead."

"Don't twist my words around or ever say that I wish my mother was dead," Barrymore continued. "I have never said that. I never would. In fact, I go on to say that I wish that I never have to live an existence where I would wish that on someone because that is sick."

Barrymore's post was in response to headlines like the one Page Six ran about her new interview with New York Magazine's Vulture. In the interview, Barrymore began discussing her relationship with her mother as she overheard her neighbors.

"All their moms are gone, and my mom's not," Barrymore told Vulture. "And I'm like, Well, I don't have that luxury. But I cannot wait. I don't want to live in a state where I wish someone to be gone sooner than they're meant to be so I can grow. I actually want her to be happy and thrive and be healthy. But I have to f—ing grow in spite of her being on this planet."

Almost an instant later, Barrymore regretted her words. "I dared to say it, and I didn't feel good," she said. "I do care. I'll never not care. I don't know if I've ever known how to fully guard, close off, not feel, build the wall up."

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Barrymore also texted Jaid on her birthday, she told Vulture. The daytime talk show host also wrote about texting her mom in a Mother's Day blog post last month. "Thank you so much! I'm incredibly proud of you and send you love," Jaid texted back. "It was the biggest gift I could have ever received," Barrymore wrote. "To know that she is proud of me. [To] know she loves me, in the middle of the circle, where I have gone deep into trying to continue to grow in front of people. And share. And be brave. I love you, too, Mom."

Barrymore successfully petitioned for emancipation from her parents Jaid and the late John Drew Barrymore when she was 15. She eventually forgave her parents for the difficult upbringing she experienced, even paying for John's hospice care before he died in 2004. In December 2022, she told PEOPLE she would never turn her back on her mother. "I can't do it. It would hurt me so much," she said. "I would find it so cruel. But there are times where I've realized that our chemistry and behavior will drum up a feeling in me where I have to say, 'OK, I need a break again.'" 

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