Drew Barrymore compares her talk show to group therapy session

Drew Barrymore has compared her talk show to being in an institution as a teenager.

The actress and talk show host has revealed how The Drew Barrymore Show reminds her of being institutionalised in her youth.

Speaking to AARP The Magazine, Drew reflected on how her show, in which she interviews other celebrities, is similar to an intimate group therapy session.

“I never thought this show would relate back to when I was in an institution as a teen,” the 49-year-old said. “But the show is just like that room we’d go into every Wednesday night, with everyone lined up in their chairs around the walls. And someone different would go into the middle of the circle and put it all out there.”

“These kids would just talk,” Drew continued of her past experience. “It was funny and heartbreaking, but cathartic. And I thought, that is what this room feels like on the show – welcoming.”

The Charlie’s Angeles star previously revealed that her mother put her in a psychiatric ward when she was 13 and she stayed there for 18 months.

Elsewhere in the interview, Drew admitted she was “terrified” when she first launched the talk show in September 2020.

“I was terrified when I started,” she shared. “I felt very insecure and suffered a sort of impostor syndrome, judging myself.”

Drew noted that the show started during the Covid-19 pandemic and she experienced issues including time management, but added, “Five years in, it’s getting a lot better. But it wasn’t overnight.”