The World According to Drew Barrymore

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When writer Natasha Stoynoff interviewed Drew Barrymore for the cover story of AARP The Magazine on the cusp of Drew’s 50th birthday, the actress-turned-talk-show-host provided an honest,

insightful, irreverent and very complete account of her life to date. So much so that we could not possibly fit it all into print. Here are several very Drew outtakes; for the complete

interview, go here. And to see Drew’s reaction to her AARP The Magazine cover, tune into The Drew Barrymore Show on Monday, Jan. 27.  

I want to protect women and take care of females. I also want males to have good modeling for themselves. I want it to be win-win and not lose-lose.

On being institutionalized at 13

The kids at the hospital would work with their therapists and counselors all week and prep. And every week, someone different would go into the middle of the circle and put it all out there.

It was like cage fighting, but nobody was touching each other. And sometimes it was pin-drop quiet. And people also laughed so much. There was so much ridiculous humor that came out of

it.

I’m very purposeful about people not having their phones on all the time. I think we’re increasingly getting to a stage where we’re not present. And I do the same thing, sometimes just in my

head. When I’m having a conversation or a revelation, I’m thinking about the essay I’m going to write or how I’m going to put this into the show, or can I put that in my gratitude journal?

Or can I tell Barry my therapist about that? Or is that a good conversation to strike up with my kids or...

I think we’re always pinball-machining in our own heads. But then with phones or technology, we’re constantly having that presence chipped away at. It’s good to force ourselves just not to

have any little gadget or exterior force vying and jockeying for our attention and splitting it.

and cigarettes? No.

Drinking, smoking, all these things...I’m like, I can’t do this anymore. It does not work for me. It’s killing me. You have to stop, and that can take decades to get to. And then you get mad

at yourself at how long you took to get there. And you’re like, well, I just realized I was looking for excuses to be unhappy and not feel good inside.

If you’re seen as a bad girl, then you just think you’re a bad girl. That haunted me for a long time, until my early 20s when I sort of felt, maybe I’m more stable now. My personal life was

really fun and hedonistic, but I didn’t need to totally take it so seriously. I had low stakes. I wasn’t trying to start a family or have kids. I just wanted to have relationships, and

walks, and enjoy my life. So it was kind of OK. And then in my 30s, I really wanted to settle down, and things changed.