Drew Barrymore and Brooke Shields have had storied careers in the entertainment industry, having started as child stars and navigated through the difficult terrain of growing up in the public eye. During a recent episode of The Drew Barrymore Show , the two icons sat down to discuss their shared pasts and the complicated relationships they had with their mothers, who also served as their managers.
Barrymore disclosed that Teri Shields served as the “original momager,” which later paved the way for her own mother, Jaid Barrymore, to become her manager. Drew Barrymore was emancipated from her parents at age of 14, but the close scrutiny she lived under meant the damage had already been done. One of the revelations to come out of the conversation was Barrymore’s admission that she was confused about her sexuality because her mother had dated her boyfriends.
According to Decider , Barrymore explained that her mother was “enamored” with her and may have wanted to be with the people her daughter was with. Barrymore then asked her guest if she ever had a similar experience with her own mother.
Shields, who had a different experience with her own mother, Teri Shields, was shocked by Drew’s admission but also understood the complicated dynamics at play. She replied “I don’t get it but I get it. It’s so layered and it’s so needy. And it’s so sad and broken.”
According to People , Shields joked that she didn’t have a similar experience to Barrymore because her mother “was in love with” her, and she was the main focus of her mother’s attention; both of them were cut off from their sexuality. This meant that Shields was expected to remain a virgin and her mother was going to be “Teri Terrific.” Shields has elaborated on her relationship with her mother in her new documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, also detailing the backlash her mother received for allowing Shields to do PDA scenes when she was just 11.
Despite the turmoil they experienced growing up, Drew and Brooke were able to find humor in the fact that their mothers were so “in love” with them that they behaved inappropriately. Drew added, “And they’re our moms! They gave us life. And if my mom hadn’t schlepped me to every audition and become my manager, I might not be sitting here right now, and there’s nowhere on earth I’d rather be.”
As a mother of two herself, Barrymore said she’ll always be there for her mom if she needs her, too. “I will always support her,” she told People last December. “I can’t turn my back on the person who gave me my life. I can’t do it. It would hurt me so much. I would find it so cruel. But there are times where I’ve realized that our chemistry and behavior will drum up a feeling in me where I have to say, ‘Okay, I need a break again.'” The pair have established “a lot of boundaries,” she said. “And we’ve taken many pauses in our lives. Healthy pauses, I’m like, friends need to do it, life-longers need to do it, this is where we’re at.”