Drew Barrymore shares a profound but funny experience on Monday’s new episode of The Drew Barrymore Show. In a preview clip from her reunion with her E.T. co-stars, Dee Wallace helps Barrymore recall that she believed the extra-terrestrial was real while they were filming. She explained that director Steven Spielberg and the crew conspired to keep that belief alive for the then-7-year-old Barrymore.
Barrymore was still a child when she played Gertie, the youngest sibling in the Taylor family in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She filmed a segment with her co-stars Wallace, Henry Thomas and Robert McNaughton to celebrate the movie’s 40th anniversary on Monday, and in it she admitted that she recalls thinking the E.T. was real. She said: “I really loved him in such a profound way,” then probes her castmates to see if they remember her relationship with the puppet being that intense. They did not disappoint.
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First, Thomas confirmed that Barrymore had believed that E.T. was real and said that he realized it when Barrymore asked the wardrobe department for a scarf so that the alien would not get cold on set. However, Thomas was a child at the time as well, and he deferred to Wallace for a more concrete story. Wallace then explained how Spielberg set things up to preserve Barrymore’s childlike sense of wonder.
“We found you over there just talking away to E.T. and so we let Steven know,” she said. “And so Steven, from that time on, appointed two guys to keep E.T. alive so whenever you came over to talk to him, he could react to you.”
This clearly made Barrymore emotional, and she paused for a prolonged moment to digest the news. While the fresh insight on this childhood memory brought tears to her eyes, it also put a smile on her lips. The actress is now remembered largely for her youthful hijinks as a teenager and a young adult, and she has revealed that those years included some abuse and mental health struggles. Reflecting on this more wholesome memory clearly pleased her.
Barrymore detailed the trials of her youth in her 2015 memoir Wildflower. She revealed that she was placed in rehab at the age of 13 followed by a stay in an in-patient institution for the mentally ill. She even described attempting suicide at that time, and was subsequently emancipated at the age of 14.
Barrymore’s book is available now in print, digital and audiobook formats. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is streaming now on Peacock. The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays at 2 p.m. ET in syndication. Check your local listings for the correct station.
