Drew Barrymore comes from a long line of American stage and film actors, and she was quick to follow in their footsteps! She’s held an extremely long career in Hollywood since she rose to fame as a small child and has come a long way since she appeared as Gertie in Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Her fame continued to rise after she starred in a string of hits like Poison Ivy, Bad Girls, Boys on the Side and Scream. After a tumultuous childhood riddled with drug and alcohol abuse, Barrymore has come out the other side and is doing better than ever! She’s now an author, director, producer and an award-winning actress. In honor of her upcoming 42 birthday, here’s a look at 11 things you probably didn’t know about her!
11. How She Met Adam Sandler
In her book Wildflower, Drew Barrymore talks about how she had to “beg, borrow and steal” to get her now best friend, Adam Sandler, to meet her in person. They’ve now played a couple in three successful romantic comedies, The Wedding Singer in 1998, 50 First Dates in 2004 and the family film Blended in 2014. They first met when she was in her early 20s. “I thought Adam had a goodness that was so unique. I could tell that he possessed something different, and I was drawn to his light. I wanted to make love stories, but I wanted them to have a certain energy that was about true love and chemistry and timelessness, and I was convinced of us doing something together,” she said.
Photo by Norbert Kesten/REX
