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Topics: Steven Spielberg, Drew Barrymore, Celebrity, Film and TV, Parenting
Katherine Sidnell
Topics: Steven Spielberg, Drew Barrymore, Celebrity, Film and TV, Parenting
Drew Barrymore has revealed that she asked the director Steven Spielberg to be her dad, at just seven-years-old.
The heart-breaking admission was made in her latest interview, as the actor and talk show host spoke about her strained relationship with her biological parents.
She later revealed that the legendary filmmaker was the only ‘parental figure’ she had in her life.
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Barrymore has often spoken about how exploited she felt as a child, being pushed into the spotlight at just five-years-old in Altered States.
Coming from an acting dynasty didn’t help her either, with her famous father leaving the family and her mum, Jaid, raising her alone.
In fact, the single mum would regularly take the then-child actor to nightclubs and Hollywood parties – leading to Barrymore attending rehab twice by the time she was thirteen.
Looking back over her turbulent childhood, the now 48-year-old says that Steven Spielberg was the only ‘parental figure’ she’d ever had.
The pair first met on the set of E.T: the Extra-Terrestrial, which became a breakout role for the A-lister.
However, she treasured her time with the legendary filmmaker telling Vulture: "[He is] the only person in my life to this day that ever was a parental figure."
She then explained that the Indiana Jones creator had looked after her, making sure the child star was ok despite her troubled life at home.
"Steven is the type of incredible human being that, I think, just wants to know [that] all of his kids are OK," she gushed, "So, it just felt like this wonderful moment where we could be like, 'Your kids are OK.'"
On her titular talk show, she emphasised this, saying: "I really loved him in such a profound way. I would go and take lunch to him."
Spielberg has since revealed that he had major concerns for Barrymore, since knowing how disrupted her childhood was.
In the same Vulture interview, he said: "She was staying up way past her bedtime, going to places she should have only been hearing about, and living a life at a very tender age that I think robbed her of her childhood."
"Yet I felt very helpless because I wasn't her dad. I could only kind of be a consigliere to her," he added
The story does have a happy ending though – with the two A-Listers remaining close long after the nostalgic film wrapped.
Forty years on, Spielberg even explained that he became Barrymore’s godfather as they celebrated the film’s anniversary.