Celebrity Victories: Part 4 of 4

This is the final installment in a 4-part case study on famous survivors of emotional abuse.

The last person I chose to focus on for this case study is a great example, I think, because she's done so well for herself even after growing up in the public eye that most people don't even remember that she was once a victim!

Drew Barrymore

Drew Blythy Barrymore was born in 1975 in Culver City, CA into old Hollywood royalty: the Barrymore acting family. Her father was the late actor John Barrymore (d. 2004), and her mother was Ildiko Jaid Barrymore, an aspiring actress - but her father abandoned the family before Drew was even born. Drew's acting career began when she was a mere 11 months old, and shot a dog food commercial. She got her first acting role in 1980 at the age of 5, but her second project shot her to fame. She played young Gertie in the iconic film E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, worked with director Steven Spielberg, and became America's sweetheart.

Her life at home was more troubled. Drew's father was neglectful, and when he reunited with the family when she was 3, John was verbally and psychologically abusive towards Drew and her mother. Drew's mother also had very little time for her while she worked two full-time jobs, leaving a young Drew to fend for and almost raise herself. Drew's memories about her father were especially painful, although her relationship with her mother was also nearly non-existant:

"I really love him. I hated him while I was growing up. He was an abusive
asshole. But now that I've grown up, I do love him. For a crazy person he's
the most intelligent, fascinating man I've ever met, but he is crazy.
Omigod, he's insane! He'll, like, leave a crazy message every couple of
months, maybe. But he's off, sucking the marrow out of life like no other
human being. He sucks it dry! He's like the vacuum cleaner of life. It's
sort of hard. But I know that he loves me. His ways of showing it are very
peculiar, you know? I've accepted it. So I don't have that pain anymore."

Her confusion, youth, and limitless new power led Drew to experiment with boundaries, and by the time she was 9 she had already dabbled in drug abuse and become a regular patron at the notorious nightclub Studio 54 - a place that allowed patrons to have sex and take up drugs right under the management's nose. By the age of 13, Drew was snorting cocaine and had to be checked into rehab. The media ate up the salicious stories of the young starlet acting 30 when she looked 12, but no one noticed her cries for help and sanity until Drew attempted suicide when she was 14. Living in sobriety with singer David Crosby and his family, Drew wrote her autobiography Little Girl Lost, and when she was 15 years old, she went to the courts to be legally emancipated from her family.

Drew's drug problems never returned. She revamped her image as a young doe-eyed seductress and went on to star in movies such as Poison Ivy (1992) and Guncrazy (1993) - and adopted a wild streak, posing for Playboy and nude for the magazine Interview, dancing topless on the desk on Late Show with David Letterman, and getting scolded by her god-father and family friend Steven Spielberg. Toning down her image won her even more roles. Drew starred in Boys on the Side, Mad Love, Batman Forever, Scream, The Wedding Singer, Home Fries, and with her own newly founded production company Flower Films, Charlie's Angels, Never Been Kissed, and Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle by the close of the 20th century. In 1991, she got engaged to Leland Hayward and called it off within a few months, then to Jamie Walters from 1992-1993, and finally was married to Jeremy Thomas in 1994. The marriage dissolved in another few months and Drew married for the second time to comedic actor Tom Green in 2001, with Green filing for divorce in 2002.

Drew gradually grew into a lovely, refined, and likeable lady with a mature outlook on life and perpetual positivity. Her production company helped to finance such film projects as Donnie Darko, Duplex with Ben Stiller in 2003, 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler and his production company Happy Madison in 2004, and Fever Pitch, Music and Lyrics, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and He's Just Not That Into You in 2008. She's now expected to direct the third film in the Twilight series in 2010.

Drew has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004. She's also one of the highest-paid film actresses in Hollywood to date, and still holds the record for the youngest person to host Saturday Night Live from 1982. Drew even works as a model, becoming the newest face to join Covergirl Cosmetics in 2007, and the face of Gucci jewelry that same year. Her philanthropic efforts are also as heartfelt as her career choices. She supports various abuse centers and drives annually, was named the Ambassador Against World Hunger for the UN in 2007 shortly before donating $1 million to its program, and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show on various occassions to promote her charities.

Few will argue against Drew's beauty, talent, drive, or spirit, but not that many people remember all that much about her history with abuse. But the pain and scars of living with child abuse are just that for Drew - a distant memory.