Drew Barrymore has heartbreakingly opened up about turning 49, revealing that she "can't f***ing believe" that she's alive.
The longtime actress - who is the daughter of Hollywood star John Barrymore - began her screen career after starring in a dog food commercial at just 11 months old.
She shot to fame at just seven years old as Gertie in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster hit E.T. The movie became one of the highest-grossing films of the 1980s, and quickly turned Barrymore into one of the most beloved child stars of the time.
However, Barrymore endured a troublous youth, entering rehab at just 13 years old and spent 18 months there. She re-entered at 15 after a suicide attempt which was followed by a three-month stay with singer David Crosby and his wife.
Through it all, Barrymore continued to bless us on screen, starring in a string of successful films during the 1990s and 2000s, including Charlie's Angels, Poison Ivy, Boys on the Side, Mad Love, Batman Forever, Scream, and Ever After.
Ahead of the 49-year-old's birthday, she candidly spoke to Us Weekly about overcoming her "broken" personal life and allowing herself to control her own narrative.
"'I’ve had a 'bad girl' narrative on my back my whole life. I thought I deserved bad things. Now I’m raising two daughters. I can’t do that to myself anymore," she said of Olive, 11, and Frankie, nine, who she shares with ex-husband Will Koppelman.
"Kind of like the drinking - I’m picking off things one at a time, going, 'I can’t carry you anymore. You aren’t good for me,'" the mom-of-two said, adding that she started drinking when she was just nine years old, but one day in 2019 she just thought, "I’m never going to do this again".
"I don’t have cravings. I have alcohol all over my house. I serve people drinks. It’s a confident choice. But it took me 35 years to get there. So, once I got there, I was really done,' she said,
The TV host shared that while her personal life has always been a "work in progress," the professional in her "feels really brave and never entitled," explaining: "Always so privileged and grateful. I’ve lost everything. I’ve got it back. I’ve lost it again. Got it back. So I don’t assume anything stays. I know not to take anything for granted."
"Whatever difficult times I’ve gone through professionally, I believed I could rewrite things. Then in my personal life, I was a failure and a broken person," she said, admitting that she "can’t f***ing believe I’m alive sometimes".
Barrymore said that for the first time in her life, the personal and professional "are complementing each other" and that time has allowed "things to get better, to shift, to have light come into a dark space".
"It has taken my whole life to get here, but I’m so happy to be out of the jail in my mind," she concluded.
Two days before her birthday, Barrymore was treated to a delightful surprise by Ross Mathews and the rest of the Drew Barrymore Show's crew.
Footage obtained by Daily Mail showed Mathews and the rest of the television program's crew shocking the actress - who was donning a multicolor pleated pastel gown - with a ride on the Oscars Mayer Wienermobile.
On Wednesday (Febraury 21), the 50 First Dates actress also shared a video on Instagram in which she was seen walking outside in a park while she mused on marking the last day before her birthday on Thursday.
"Last day of 48. What do I want to bring with me into 49? What do I want to leave behind? That is the question! I think I have my answers!" she wrote in the caption.