Acclaimed director Steven Spielberg was a father figure in the life of actress Drew Barrymore.
Drew was recently shocked by a statement about her mother and the tough childhood she had. On that occasion, she also revealed that her only parental figure is actually Spielberg. Her father was an alcoholic.
Spielberg went public with the fact that despite everything, he turned Drew down when she asked him to play her movie father during the filming of the 1982 classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial when she was only seven years old.
During those days, Drew also stayed with Spielberg on weekends. He gave her a cat and even took her to Disneyland. Her struggle with addiction also began. She tried cocaine when she was only 12 years old and soon went to rehab.
While she was shooting the film, she would come to the set with red lipstick. Spielberg always asked to take it off.
“Drew was up way past her bedtime. She was going to places she should have only heard about. She was living life at a very tender age, which I think robbed her of her childhood. Yet I felt very helpless because I wasn’t her father. I could only be her advisor,” said the celebrated director.
