Drew Barrymore Holds Back Tears Over Being A “Black-Out Drinker” In Her Past: “I Felt So Much Shame About That”

Drew Barrymore held back tears as she opened up about her past as a “black-out drinker” on this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show.

The actress welcomed Zoë Kravitz to the couch to discuss her directorial debut Blink Twice, which also stars her boyfriend Channing Tatum. As Barrymore gushed over the film, she called for an “Academy Awards campaign push” for Tatum, who gave “one of the finest performances [she’d] ever seen.”

But according to Barrymore, she was especially affected by the film’s focus on substances.

“I was shocked to realize that part of my journey that I was looking to find the trauma inside of me and what is it about — a big part of it was I used to be a black-out drinker,” she said, becoming choked up.

“So watching this film was an extraordinary journey for me to forgive myself for that,” Barrymore continued. “Because I’ve put myself in situations I shouldn’t have put myself in. And I felt so much shame about that.”

The talk show host noted that she has not “had a drink in five years,” prompting an encouraging applause from the audience.

“It is not only a film about the things that can happen to us, but it made me think about the things we’ve done to ourselves,” Barrymore added.

Kravitz, for her part, explained that the use of substances in the film was a way to get the characters to “the most vulnerable place possible,” noting that “when you let yourself go and you lose yourself, it’s so easy for things to spiral out of control.”

“To your point, as well, when we allow ourselves to be in those kind of situations, there’s so much shame when we get to the other side,” Kravitz said. “So, you know, we make mistakes, we hurt ourselves, we get hurt by others, and then oftentimes we are left to deal with the consequences on our own … and it’s just so much more complicated than that.”

The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.