Drew Barrymore says she ‘has zero baggage or daddy issues’ in Father’s Day tribute

She became legally emancipated from her parents when she was just 14, and never had any significant relationship with her father, the late actor, John Barrymore, who left her mother, Jaid, when she was just nine-years-old. 

And Drew Barrymore has now opened up about her relationship with her father and claimed although they weren’t close, she hasn’t been left with any ‘daddy issues.’ 

The 45-year-old actress took to social media on Sunday to honor the late actor on Father’s Day. 

‘My mom chose a wild card for my dad. He was a mad poet hedonist man child! But I understood that as a kid,’ she began, adding, ‘Somehow I have zero baggage or dad issues.’    

‘I think I would have liked to have a dad who didn’t look so out there. Or who stayed. Or was capable of anything really. But his wildness runs through me. His gifts are here. His demons to overcome are mine to break!’ 

Drew went on to explain that she has now come to a stage where she loves him for who he was. 

‘I love him not for who I wanted him to be, but for who he was. And as I look at all the photos of dads today, doing their dad job, sure, there is my tiny self that wished for him to fit in. But he never did. And I’m not sure I did either,’ she added.   

‘And I’m not sure what anything is supposed to look like, or what it really is beyond the images?! But I do know this… both my parents have played a major role in who i am as a parent. And none of it looks perfect. But it functions with so much love. And togetherness. And availability.’ 

Drew ended the lengthy Father’s Day post with: ‘I don’t have a picture of a dad today to show how great everything was. I have a picture to show what it was.’

‘And that is my story. And that is perfect in itself. My dad gave me the gift of life! A wicked sense of humor! And that wildness that I truly do cherish.’ 

Drew had an estranged relationship with her parents, emancipating from them at the age of 14. 

The 50 First Dates actress was thrown into the spotlight by age seven when she appeared in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Following her sudden stardom, Drew endured bullying at school, leading her to choose to rather go to the studio than elementary school. 

‘I had a mom, but she was more like my best friend,’ she told Norm Macdonald on his Netflix special, Norm Macdonald Has a Show, in 2018.  

‘She was like, “Do you want to go to school and get bullied all day, or do you want to go to Studio 54?” And I was like, “Yes, absolutely! I don’t want to spend the day with these little f**kers who are just awful.” Kids are so mean.’ 

But her underage stardom left her surrounded by drugs and alcohol – leading her to be placed in rehab at the age of just 13. 

She also spent 18-months in an institution for the mentally ill, and returned to rehab at 14 following a suicide attempt.

Drew went on to be emancipated from her parents at 14 and move out into her own place.   

‘It really is a recipe for disaster,’ she said of becoming famous so young in the Netflix interview.   

‘But you know what’s exciting? I got my s*** over with at, like, 14. Like, midlife crisis, institutionalized, blacklisted, no family, like, got it done, and then got into the cycle of being my own parent, figuring it out.’ 

Drew now spends her time raising her daughters, Olive, seven, and Frankie, six. 

She shares the girls with her ex-husband, Will Kopelman – the son of former Chanel CEO, Arie Kopelman.  

The pair married in 2012 before announcing their separation with the intention to divorce in July 2016. By August it had been finalized.