Actress Drew Barrymore has released an emotional video statement after she was widely quoted as saying in a US interview that she “cannot wait” for the death of her mother.
The 48-year-old star was furious after the quote appeared in an interview with the US entertainment website Vulture.
Barrymore told the site it had been difficult for her to move on and heal from her difficult relationship mother Jaid Barrymore, as her mother was still alive.
“I cannot wait. I don’t want to live in a state where I wish someone to be gone sooner than they’re meant to be so I can grow,” Barrymore told the news outlet.
“I actually want her to be happy and thrive and be healthy. But I have to … grow, in spite of her being on this planet.”
But the Charlie’s Angels star hit back in an Instagram video uploaded earlier on Tuesday (AEST), denying she would ever say such a thing.
“Don’t twist my words around or ever say that i wish my mother was dead, I have never said that and I never would,” she said.
“To all you tabloids out there, you have been f–king with my life since I was 13 years old.
“I have never said that I wished my mother was dead. How dare you put those words in my mouth.”
Barrymore, who leapt to worldwide fame as Gertie in 1982’s E.T, has previously spoken out about her rocky childhood. She went into rehab at 13 and has acknowledged an attempt to take her own life.
A year later, aged just 14, she won emancipation from her mother Jaid and her father John.
On Tuesday, she said she had intended only to be “vulnerable” in her Vulture interview.
“I have been vulnerable and tried to figure out a very difficult, painful relationship while admitting it is difficult to do while a parent is alive,” she told the website.
“And that for those of us who have to figure that out in real time cannot wait … as in they cannot wait for the time, not that the parent is dead.”
Barrymore, who now hosts her own TV talkshow, told Vulture she envied her friends whose parents had died.
“All their moms are gone, and my mom’s not,” she said.
“I don’t have that luxury. But I cannot wait. I don’t want to live in a state where I wish someone to be gone sooner than they’re meant to be so I can grow.
“I actually want her to be happy and thrive and be healthy. But I have to f—ing grow in spite of her being on this planet.”
Later in the interview, Barrymore was kinder.
“I dared to say it, and I didn’t feel good,” she said.
“I do care. I’ll never not care. I don’t know if I’ve ever known how to fully guard, close off, not feel, build the wall up.”
Barrymore’s father John died in 2004. She has forgiven him for the troubles of her childhood – as she has her mother.
“I forgive my mom. I forgive my dad,” she said.
However, she acknowledges her life is still less than smooth.
“I’ve never forgiven myself, but I’d like to and I’m ready to.”
