Demi Lovato and Drew Barrymore Share How They Were Exposed to Drugs at a Very Young Age

Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of drugs and substance abuse that some readers may find distressing.

Demi Lovato and Drew Barrymore have spilled the beans on their testing childhoods and similar fate with substance abuse. The music artist and actor opened up about their reach with drugs as kids in a documentary titled Child Star. It explores their struggle with fame and substance abuse simultaneously and how they got past it. 

In the documentary, Lovato interviews several stars who shot to fame at a young age. The stars include Christina Ricci, Kenan Thompson, JoJo Siwa, Alyson Stoner, and Raven-Symoné. The 32-year-old singer shared, "It's hard to say that you don't blame other people when other people may have been giving you substances as a kid," while speaking to the 49-year-old actor. Further, she asked, "How old were you when you were first given something?" Barrymore recalled that her mom's friend first gave her weed. "I used to get high with my mom's friend at like 10. And I thought she was so cool, and she would give weed to me and her son," she shared according to the Mirror. 

Furthermore, the Poison Ivy star expressed, "Those were all my actions, those were my reactions. That was my coping mechanism. I'm very accountable, I don't blame other people," when the Confident hitmaker expressed, "It's hard to not blame someone else when you're ten years old." Going down the alley of her childhood miseries Lovato also shared, "I was doing drugs. I was out of control. She just threw her hands up and threw me in there, not knowing where else to turn to. And that place really did help me and it did save my life, and I actually wouldn’t change a thing." The singer and performer revealed that her situation worsened to such an extent that her mom placed her in an institution for better care when she was just 10 years old. 

Lovato who now uses she/they pronouns after coming out of the closet as bisexual co-directed the documentary with Nicola Marsh. Barrymore who now is a mother of two also revealed that she now finds it unbelievable as she has a 10-year-old child of her own. "Having a 10-year-old daughter now, I just, it's unfathomable. But that's just how I grew up," Barrymore said according to Entertainment Weekly. Barrymore also has had her family members pass away due to the issues with alcohol. Her grandfather John died from complications related to alcohol abuse, and her Aunt Diana and father John Drew both have had acute alcoholism. 

Lovato has been working hard to ensure that the documentary which is available on Hulu helps the viewers gain a sense of the dark realities of substance. Although not all the stars interviewed have had similar pasts, but the conjecture that child stars have it easy as adults has been addressed beautifully. 

If you know of any children who are being subjected to abuse, please contact The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at (800) 422-4453