Drew Barrymore asked Steven Spielberg to be her dad on the sets of ‘ET’ but he said no
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: As a child thrown into the spotlight of stardom, a young Drew Barrymore strangely found comfort at the workplace more than anywhere else. The same was the case on the sets of ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ which plunged her into immense popularity and intense work schedules. But all was not bad since little Barrymore also found Steven Spielberg through the sci-fi film.
In a recent interview with Alex Jung, the actress shared an episode from the set in which she made a very surprising request to the director. According to the profile, she asked Spielberg if he could be her dad, but he said 'no'.
Barrymore’s childhood and her quest for a parental figure
Coming from a family of actors, Barrymore herself was made to join the industry as a 5-year-old child which made her juggle between work, school and home. Despite her early success as an actress, she went through a traumatizing childhood because of her dysfunctional family. Barrymore’s father, John Barrymore, also an actor, had a short-lived career in the industry which plummeted him into consuming alcohol and abusing the actress and her mother. She recalls how “he stormed in and tossed her into a wall. He would do things like hold her hand over a candle and say that pain is in the imagination.”
Inevitably, Barrymore lacked a parental figure quite early on in her life. And that is where Spielberg came in.
Spielberg’s role in restoring Barrymore’s childhood
Spielberg became central to Barrymore’s lack of a parental figure, and also the reason why her workplace became her escape from her abusive household. The film ‘E.T.’ itself helped the two connect, and helped Spielberg put Barrymore in a “bubble” of fantasy. It was only the director who showed any ounce of worry for the direction Barrymore was being led into. She was growing up in an industry made up of adults with no one looking after her.
“She was staying up way past her bedtime, going to places she should have only been hearing about, and living a life at a very tender age that I think robbed her of her childhood,” Spielberg said about Barrymore. So, although he refused to be her dad, when Barrymore asked him to be her godfather, he agreed.
Barrymore is currently hosting ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’, where she has reconnected with her past coworkers from the film industry.
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