Drew Barrymore spent his 46th birthday on Monday talking about sad details of his 18-month stint in a psychiatric ward at 13 years old. (Watch the video below.)
“You couldn’t get in there,” the actor told Howard Stern on his radio show. “If you did, they would throw you in the padded room or put you tied up in bunks.”
Barrymore said he sometimes channeled his “inner riot” to incite other patients to rebel.
The “ET” and “50 First Dates” star said she has forgiven her mother, Jaid Barrymore, for putting her there.
“I was going to clubs, I wasn’t going to school and I was stealing my mom’s car and, you know, I was out of control,” he said, according to People.
“He created a monster and didn’t know what to do with the monster, and that was his last sigh. And it was really out of control. And I forgive her for making that choice. I probably felt I had nowhere to go. ”
Barrymore, who has previously debated her institutionalization after drug addiction and suicide attempt, earned her mother’s legal emancipation at age 14. He told Stern that they are now in contact after a long separation.
“We sent text messages this morning,” he said. “I’m very happy that there are cures.”