Drew Barrymore has reached a major milestone in her journey to sobriety, which she was inspired to reveal publicly after a raw, candid interview about mental health with Machine Gun Kelly.
On CBS Mornings on Thursday, Dec. 9, the Drew Barrymore Show host and actress made this announcement: "I'm just going to say something for the first time in a long time: I have not had a drink of alcohol in two and a half years. And it was something that I realized just did not serve me in my life."
Drew, who at age 13 underwent mental health treatment and rehab for alcohol and drug addiction, made her comments while talking about her then-still unaired interview on her show with MGK, during which the rocker and actor independently began speaking about his mental health struggles.
On her show on Friday, Dec. 10, just before her interview with MGK aired, Drew's comments about her sobriety on CBS This Morning were screened.
The 46-year-old actress then addressed her audience, saying, "It's so funny. When we reveal ourselves and our truths and the things we've worked so hard for, it's so liberating and vulnerable all at the same time. I really want to attribute this liberation and this moment in my life to our first guest. I just really want to thank Machine Gun Kelly for inspiring the beginning of this journey."
During the interview, he told Drew, "I haven't given myself the time to just accept that it's OK to not be OK." In turn, she opened up about her "really painful" 2016 divorce from her ex-husband Will Kopelman, with whom she shares two daughters.
"I just wanted to have a nuclear family so badly and when that dream did not come true—with kids involved it was an even more intense experience," she told Entertainment Tonight. "I had to dig deep and continue to work on myself. Machine Gun Kelly inspired me to be vulnerable. He asks himself if he needs to keep up the facade. I would love if social media wasn't a display of fabulousness, but a place we could come together and share our journey."
Drew told ET that she initially "didn't even want to talk about" her sobriety "because I didn't want the pressure of the word sober or the judgment." She added, "But I was looking at patterns and choices I was making, and I was stuck in something that wasn't working. It took changing behaviors. I wanted to live my happiest, healthiest, most confident life. The longer I didn't drink, the better I felt. I don't think you have to go out on the rooftop and tell everyone. Do it yourself."
She also told ET that her BFF and Charlie's Angels co-star Cameron Diaz "was one of the first people to know" about her decision to announce her sobriety milestone. "I talked about it to my friends, just not publicly," she said. "There are so many things we have to do in our lives to stay the course of growing and evolving. When you can believe in yourself and stop doubting yourself, it's so empowering!"