Drew Barrymore Rips Tabloids Claiming She “Cannot Wait” Until Her Mother Dies: “Do Not Twist My Words”

It seems difficult to make Drew Barrymore mad — but after tabloids ran wild with stories claiming she wished her mother was dead, the beloved talk show host slammed the outlets for “twisting” her words.

In a tense Instagram video posted to Barrymore’s page on Monday (June 5), the star responded to the morbid (and incorrect) takeaway from her recent interview with Vulture.

“You know what, to all you tabloids out there, you have been fucking with my life since I was 13 years old,” Barrymore fumed. “I have never said that I wished my mother was dead. How dare you put those words in my mouth.”

In the Vulture piece — which mainly peels back the layers on The Drew Barrymore Show and Barrymore’s up close and personal interview style — the actress also opens up about her complicated relationship with her mother, Jaid, whom she has been mostly estranged from since she became emancipated at 14.

In the interview, she reflects on her heartfelt conversations with Jennette McCurdy and Brooke Shields — two actresses who also had complex relationships with their own mothers.

“All their moms are gone, and my mom’s not,” Barrymore told Vulture. “And I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t have that luxury.’ But I cannot wait. I don’t want to live in a state where I wish someone to be gone sooner than they’re meant to be so I can grow. I actually want her to be happy and thrive and be healthy. But I have to fucking grow in spite of her being on this planet.”

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Later on, she expressed regret over her earlier comments.

“I dared to say it, and I didn’t feel good,” Barrymore told Vulture. “I do care. I’ll never not care. I don’t know if I’ve ever known how to fully guard, close off, not feel, build the wall up.”

Following the article’s publication yesterday (June 5), many news sites wrote up stories claiming the 50 First Dates star “cannot wait” until her mother dies, prompting a frustrated Barrymore to clear the air.

“I have been vulnerable and tried to figure out a very difficult, painful relationship while admitting it is difficult to do while a parent is alive,” she explained in the Instagram video. “For those of us that have to figure that out in real-time, cannot wait — as in they cannot wait for the time. Not that the parent is dead.”

She added, “Do not twist my words around or ever say that I wished my mother was dead. I have never said that, I never would, and in fact, I go on to say that I wish that I never have to live an existence where I would wish that on someone. Because that is sick.”