Why Drew Barrymore Told Her Children She'd Never Be Their Friend

Drew Barrymore has shared her realizations as a parent, especially when it comes to setting boundaries.

On Tuesday, the "50 First Dates" star appeared on Demi Lovato's podcast "4D With Demi Lovato" where Barrymore revealed that she and her mom Jaid were friends instead of "parent and child" growing up, and this forced her to "relearn what parent-child dynamic is" when she had her own kids.

This also highlighted the need to set boundaries with her two daughters Frankie, 7, and Olive, 8, whom she shares with ex-husband Will Kopelman.

"I'm having amazing real realizations about my own kids and how little I understood what boundaries were," Barrymore was quoted by People as saying.

"I didn't have them growing up and when you're a parent, you try to compensate with so much love and you're almost afraid to get into the argument sometimes, you're just trying to survive the day, so you let things slide and you're like, 'Oh, there should have been a boundary in that place probably a while ago but I guess I'm only realizing that now,'" she continued.

Barrymore decided to take on a different parenting approach from her mom and made it clear to her daughters that she will "never be their friend."

"Like, I'm your parent, I'm not your friend," the actress explained. "You can be friendly and do activities, it's not that it has to be this strict relationship."

Despite this, Barrymore said her daughters are the first people to know about some major moments in her life, including "The Drew Barrymore Show" receiving three Daytime Emmy nominations.

"I was sitting alone with my two daughters in the kitchen and we were playing with stickers, and I looked up and I said, 'Girls, I'm so embarrassed to say this, but you know how there's, like, awards shows and stuff?' And they were like, 'Yeah.' [I said], 'I just found out I got nominated!' They were so happy for me, and they gave me a hug. ... Then we just went back to playing stickers," she told Entertainment Tonight.

"I told them they were the people that it mattered most that I got to tell, so it felt like a very whole moment," she added.

Meanwhile, in a February interview, Barrymore also opened up about her rocky relationship with her mother. According to the "Blended" star, they were more like best friends than mother and daughter. Jaid raised her as a single mom after her divorce from her dad, screen actor John Drew Barrymore.

The actress recalled a time when her mom asked her if she would rather go to school and get bullied or visit Studio 54. While they were very close, Barrymore said she felt that her upbringing was detrimental to how she later turned out to be.

"I think she created a monster, and she didn’t know what to do with the monster," the talk show host said on "The Howard Stern Show."

Barrymore further said her mom put her in a psychiatric ward in California when she was 13. Looking back, the actress said she stayed at Van Nuys Psychiatric for a year and a half and "couldn't mess around" because they would either be "thrown in the padded room or get put in stretcher restraints and tied up" if they did.

However, Barrymore said she has already moved on from it and that she and her mom have a better relationship now. "We texted this morning. I’m really glad there is healing there. I feel goodness toward my mom," she said when asked if they were still in contact.