Drew Barrymore: Bad decisions lead to better choices

Drew Barrymore hopes her daughters will learn from her mistakes.

The 40-year-old actress first found fame as a child, starring in films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial when she was just seven years old.

Shortly after her breakout role, Drew’s life took a turbulent turn as she struggled with alcohol and drug abuse.

Now a happy and successful entertainer-and-businesswoman, Drew is mother to three-year-old Olive and 17—month-old Frankie with husband Will Kopelman.

And instead of being ashamed of her past, Drew is hoping her girls will be able to recognise their mother’s mistakes and embark on different paths themselves.

“I’m not going to pretend to my daughters that I’m pure as the driven snow…” Drew told America’s InStyle magazine.

“The best I can do is open up my heart to them. That’s soul-baring enough. Making bad decisions doesn’t make you a bad person. It is how you learn to make better choices.”

Drew was from a Hollywood background, as her late father John was an actor and her mother Jaid was an aspiring actress.
But Drew is determined not to allow her celebrity status to embarrass her girls in any way.

There is one situation in particular that Drew wants to avoid replicating in her own family life.

“My own mother, Jaid, wrote a book on sex, and it was the most mortifying feeling in the world,” Drew added.

“So I know how a child feels when their parents put themselves out there too much, and I will never do that to my daughters. There are some things about your parents you just don’t need to know.”

Drew has penned her own book of essays, entitled Wildflower, but insists the tome is a “love letter” to her girls and won’t lead to their embarrassment.