On Tuesday's episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, host Drew Barrymore and guest Brooke Shields got candid about their lives growing up in the spotlight. The pair discussed their unusual upbringings, bonding over how their manager mothers both appeared to be "in love" with them instead of the men in their lives.
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The former child stars had a lot to say about their mothers during their chat.
Both women have spoken out over the years about the cost of becoming famous at such an early age. Drew has been candid about how she ended up addicted to drugs and alcohol as a result of her early childhood traumas, and Brooke has recently shared shocking details about her own past in her new Hulu documentary, Pretty Baby — but this was the first time they've talked together about their childhood experiences. And not surprisingly, they discovered a lot of similarities.
Drew and Brooke compared notes while sitting together on the couch.
There was definitely a sense of camaraderie as the two women swapped horror stories from their childhoods. Drew asked Brooke if her mother, Teri Shields, ever dated the same people that she did like Drew's mom, Jaid Barrymore, did.
"No, because she was in love with me," Brooke replied, claiming her mother — who divorced Brooke's father when Brooke was just 5 months old — didn't have any interest in romance at the time. "I was her main focus. Both of us were cut off from our sexuality."
Unfortunately, Drew's mother frequently recycled Drew's partners.
Drew confessed that her relationship with her mom was so warped that her mom would often try to follow in her romantic footsteps. "My mom was so enamored with me that she wanted to be with the people I was with," the 50 First Dates star claimed, prompting Brooke to call it "needy and weird."
Brooke said her mother's unusual attachment to her daughter presented in another way.
The 57-year-old recalled how Teri never let her do any of her media interviews alone under the guise of wanting to protect her daughter.
"'No one's going to get you. I'm going to be there. I'm there first. You're mine. I'm not going to give you to somebody,'" Brooke recalled her mom telling her, explaining that Teri's motives were more rooted in fear and ownership than love and protection.
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With everything these two women have been through, you'd expect them to be jaded but they're not.
Both Drew and Brooke have managed to take what happened between them and their mothers and turn it into a blueprint for how not to parent their own children. It appears to be working for the ladies, who have remained lifelong friends.
We love seeing these two sharing their stories in an effort to protect future children from going through what they did. Hopefully it also brings them some peace to know that they weren't alone in their experiences.
