Drew Barrymore’s father died in 2004, but he left a lasting impact on her. Barrymore reflected on her “wild card” dad in a June 2020 Father’s Day post on Instagram. “He was a mad poet hedonist man child! But I understood that as a kid. Somehow I have zero baggage or dad issues. I think I would have liked to have a dad who didn’t look so out there,” She wrote.
She continued, “Or who stayed. Or was capable of anything really. But his wildness runs through me. His gifts are here. His demons to overcome are mine to break! I love him not for who I wanted him to be, but for who he was.” She noted that he gave her the “gift of life,” along with “a wicked sense of humor.” Although Barrymore and her father had a strained relationship, she did reconcile with him in 2001, as she said in a November 2015 episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (via Us Weekly). “He got cancer,” She stated. “And I had a very rare turn of events where I got to take care of him for three years in a hospice.”