From cleaning toilets and mental institution to Hollywood stardom! – Story Of The Day!

Behind that sparkle, however, was a child who felt profoundly disconnected. Barrymore has often said she didn’t relate to other kids and felt emotionally older than them. While audiences adored her, she was quietly trying to make sense of a world that gave her attention but not stability.

Her film career began almost as early as her life itself. She appeared in Ken Russell’s Altered States at just five years old, but it was two years later, in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial directed by Steven Spielberg, that she became a household name. Overnight, she was everywhere. Fame brought money, access, and freedom, but it also removed guardrails that most children rely on.

Barrymore was born into a family marked by addiction. Alcoholism and substance abuse ran through her bloodline, and her home life reflected that instability. Her father, John Drew Barrymore, struggled with alcoholism and violence and was largely absent from her childhood. Barrymore pieced together who he was through fragments and passing comments, eventually confronting her mother about his absence when she was just ten years old.

Her parents divorced when she was nine, and her mother, Jaid, began taking her into adult spaces no child should inhabit. Studio 54 became familiar territory. Drugs were not hidden from her; they were introduced. With the success of E.T. came a sense that there were no real limits.

“I really parented myself,” Barrymore later said. She has never spoken with bitterness toward her parents, but she has been brutally honest about the lack of structure in her childhood. In her own words, she wasn’t angry at them so much as disappointed in herself for having no guidance at all.

By nine, she was drinking. By twelve, she was in rehab. At thirteen, things reached a breaking point. Overwhelmed, isolated, and deeply lonely, Barrymore attempted suicide. The aftermath led to an eighteen-month stay in a psychiatric institution, where she was treated for substance abuse and mental health issues.

“When I was thirteen, that was probably the lowest,” she later reflected. “Just knowing that I really was alone.”

The institution was harsh. She wasn’t allowed to leave. Discipline was rigid and unforgiving. Yet, in retrospect, Barrymore credits that time with saving her life. For the first time, boundaries existed. Rules were enforced. Consequences were real.