Drew Barrymore is not holding back when speaking on the importance of setting boundaries as a mother for her own two daughters, Frankie and Olive.
During this past Tuesday’s episode of Demi Lovato‘s podcast, 4D With Demi Lovato, Barrymore 46, spoke to Demi about how her relationship with her own mother influenced her parenting style today.
Barrymore revealed how her own mother, Jaid, were friends, not “parent and child” growing up, which forced her to “completely relearn what parent-child dynamic is.”
“I’m having amazing real realizations about my own kids and how little I understood what boundaries were,” Barrymore shared.
“I didn’t have them growing up and when you’re a parent, you try to compensate with so much love and you’re almost afraid to get into the argument sometimes, you’re just trying to survive the day, so you let things slide and you’re like, ‘Oh, there should have been a boundary in that place probably a while ago but I guess I’m only realizing that now.'”
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Barrymore leaned into the importance of boundaries — revealing she had previously told her daughters, Frankie, 7, and Olive, 8½, that she will “never be their friend.”
“Like, I’m your parent, I’m not your friend,” she explained, adding, “You can be friendly and do activities, it’s not that it has to be this strict relationship.”
Recently, Barrymore decided to confide in her kids after she won three Daytime Emmy nominations for The Drew Barrymore Show.
“I was sitting alone with my two daughters in the kitchen and we were playing with stickers,” she told Entertainment Tonight, “and I looked up and I said, ‘Girls, I’m so embarrassed to say this, but you know how there’s, like, awards shows and stuff?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah.’ [I said], ‘I just found out I got nominated!’ They were so happy for me, and they gave me a hug. … Then we just went back to playing stickers.”
Barrymore, who co-parents her two girls with ex-husband Will Kopelman, added, “I told them they were the people that it mattered most that I got to tell, so it felt like a very whole moment.”
She explained this past fall why she chooses to keep her children out of the spotlight.
“My life with my children, my feelings, that’s all on the table — but [Olive and Frankie themselves] are not,” she said at the time.
“Because of my life experiences, I’m not selling my brand on my kids. I won’t do it. But to ignore that part of my life would make me an automaton. So it’s really inventive to figure out how to bring them into the omelet and fold it in, in a way that feels appropriate for me.”
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