Drew Barrymore hits back over claims she ‘cannot wait’ for her mum to die

Drew Barrymore has released a furious video statement after an outlet quoted her as saying she “cannot wait” for her mother to die.

Drew Barrymore via her Instagram.

A furious Drew Barrymore has hit back after being quoted in a new interview saying she “cannot wait” for her mum, Jaid Barrymore, to die.

The actress turned TV host blamed “tabloids” for the quotes, which originated in a New York Magazine profile and were then picked up by various outlets.

“To all you tabloids out there, you have been f**king with my life since I was 13 years old. I have never said that I wished my mother was dead,” Barrymore said in a video posted to Instagram.

Drew Barrymore via her Instagram.

“How dare you put those words in my mouth. I have been vulnerable and tried to figure out a very difficult, painful relationship while admitting it is difficult to do while a parent is alive and that, for those of us who have to figure that out in real time cannot wait... as in they cannot wait for the time, not that the parent is dead.”

“Don’t twist my words around or ever say that I wish my mother was dead,” she continued. “I have never said that. I never would. In fact, I go on to say that I wish that I never have to live an existence where I would wish that on someone, because that is sick.”

The TV host got candid about her tumultuous childhood with her mother.

“All their mums are gone, and my mum’s not. And I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t have that luxury.’ But I cannot wait,” Drew told New York Magazine.

“I don’t want to live in a state where I wish someone to be gone sooner than they’re meant to be so I can grow. I actually want her to be happy and thrive and be healthy. But I have to f***ing grow in spite of her being on this planet.”

A young Drew Barrymore with her mother Jaid.

However, later in the interview, the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial actress shared remorse for her harsh comments.

“I dared to say it, and I didn’t feel good,” she said. “I do care. I’ll never not care. I don’t know if I’ve ever known how to fully guard, close off, not feel, build the wall up.”

The Never Been Kissed star, 48, has been open in the past about growing up with Jaid, who acted as her manager and took her to Hollywood parties, including Studio 54, as a child.

By 12, Drew had already been to rehab for drugs and alcohol, and at 13 her mum put her in a psychiatric ward in California.

Jaid Barrymore was Drew’s manager and led her astray in Hollywood. Picture: Mark Weiss/WireImage

Drew Barrymore was emancipated from her parents when she was 14.

“I think she created a monster, and she didn’t know what to do with the monster,” she told Howard Stern in a 2021 interview.

One year later, when she was just 14 years old, she was emancipated from her parents.

While Drew was able to forgive her father, John David Barrymore, before he died in 2004, she has never fully reconciled with her mum. Though she tells New York Magazine she doesn’t “blame” Jaid for the challenges in her life.

The actress has survived the traps of Hollywood to emerge as one of its brightest stars. Picture: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Images

“I choose very consciously not to see my life as things that have been done to me,” she said. “I want to see it as the things I did and chose to do. I’m not attracted to people who lay blame on others. I don’t find it sexy.”

The actress – who shares two daughters with ex-husband Will Kopelman – previously shed light on where she and Jaid stand, saying that she “will always support her” in a December interview.

“I can’t turn my back on the person who gave me my life,” she toldPeople. “I can’t do it. It would hurt me so much. I would find it so cruel. But there are times where I’ve realised that our chemistry and behaviour will drum up a feeling in me where I have to say, ‘OK, I need a break again.’”

This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission