Having worked in Hollywood from a very young age, Drew Barrymore could not hold back her emotions as she revealed that people cruelly criticized her weight when she was still a child, and she reflected on how beauty standards were imposed on her from an early age.
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The 50-year-old actress was visibly emotional as she spoke about a photo of herself from when she was 10 years old; according to Barrymore, she remembers hearing at the time that she was fat and did not look like the little girl from the movie “E.T.”.
“That photo… it just breaks my heart,” she said during her show, “The Drew Barrymore Show”. “I was 10 years old and everyone told me: ‘You don’t look like E.T. anymore. You’re too fat. You’re not blonde enough. You’re not old enough. You’re too young. You’re not tall enough.’ And everyone started having an opinion about my appearance.”
According to a report by Entertainment Weekly, upon hearing her friend speak, Valerie Bertinelli expressed outrage that Barrymore had to hear negative comments about her appearance when she was still a little girl.
According to the publication, with tears in her eyes, the host then revealed that this had actually been happening for years.
“It’s like I didn’t know what I was supposed to be for other people,” she said. “And you don’t know yourself at 10 years old. What gives me so much relief now is that, four decades later, at 50 years old… I know what is important now, and the look in my eyes is so clear.”
Barrymore noted that it took time and maturity for her to understand that other people’s opinions do not matter and that today she believes she deserves to be happy and deserves to choose how she wants that happiness to be.
The host also left a message for younger people who may feel the same way she felt when she was a child.
“If you feel pressure to be a certain way, know that you are not alone. I’ve been through this and it’s not a pleasant feeling,” she said.
“Somehow, on the other side of that, there is… a kind of maturity, a personal freedom, and the desire to stop pleasing everyone and start realizing what it takes for you to feel good about yourself, regardless of your appearance or how you feel.”
Images: reproduction IMDB, CBS. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
