Drew Barrymore, after participating in two TV Movies, Made the leap to the big screen with 'An amazing journey to the Back of the Mind' by Ken Russell and 'E.T.
Where she worked under the orders of Steven Spielberg whom she does not hesitate to label as "the only person in my life to this day who has been a father figure."
In a special dedicated to the figure of Barrymore published in a Magazine, it is explained how King Midas of Hollywood came to agree to become her godfather, somewhat replacing her father John Drew Barrymore; a man with alcoholism problems and abusive attitudes of whom the interpreter does not keep very good memories.
Barrymore found in Spielberg the support he needed for a 7-year-old girl he found in 'E.T.' a kind of escape valve, coming to believe that the titular alien was real. During filming, the director decided to keep the illusion intact, making some of the animatronic operators available during breaks to keep it "alive". This is how Spielberg justified it:
"I didn't want to burst the bubble. So I just said, 'Okay, E.T. is so special that he has eight assistants. I'm the director, I only have one.'"
The Spielberg and Barrymore bond grew progressively, coming to stay together on weekends or to visit Disneyland. The director even gave her a cat that the girl named Gertie and scolded him when he behaved inappropriately for a girl her age:
"She was staying up way past her bedtime, going places she should only have heard of, and living a life at a very young age that, I think, robbed her of her childhood. Still, I felt very powerless because he was not her father. He could only be a counselor for her."
The absence of Drew Barrymore's childhood that Spielberg refers to can be seen reflected in his precocity when it comes to substance abuse. She used to be a regular at Studio 54, at the age of ten she was already smoking marijuana, and at the age of 12, she began using cocaine, entering a rehab center at the same age and, later, a mental institution.
It is clear that the first steps in the actress's life were not easy, but with the support of figures such as Steven Spielberg —with whom she continues to maintain a close relationship— or the singer David Crosby, who took her in after a suicide attempt at 14 years, he managed to get ahead, becoming emancipated at the age of 15 after a petition to a juvenile court that was approved. It is clear that, sometimes, family is also the one we choose.
