Drew Barrymore spoke to Dylan Farrow on her daytime talk show, and it has been one of the places we have seen welcome Dylan Farrow and her story since she came forward about allegations against her father, director Woody Allen.
Not only is it important that Dylan’s story is brought into the mainstream, but Barrymore is a very perfect person to deliver this. In the interview, Barrymore says that she was “gaslit” when it came to Woody Allen and his reputation. A lot of people have taken umbrage with her use of “gaslit,” but I think that comes from people not being familiar with Barrymore’s history.
Drew Barrymore is part of Hollywood Royalty. Her grandfather, John Barrymore, was one of the most celebrated actors of his era, and as a child actress, Barrymore was thrust into the limelight at a very young age. She was a regular at Studio 54 doing drugs with adults, was placed in rehab at the age of 13, and dealt with a myriad of mental health issues. Additionally, being in that environment meant having a very warped understanding of the relationships between adults and children—especially in a celebrity vacuum.
“I worked with Woody Allen,” Barrymore told Farrow. “I did a film with him in 1996 called ‘Everyone Says I Love You,’ and there was no higher career calling card than to work with Woody Allen. Then I had children, and it changed me because I realized that I was one of the people who was basically gaslit into not looking at a narrative beyond what I was being told, and I see what is happening in the industry now, and that is because of you making that brave choice. So, thank you for that.”
That isn’t something that should be overlooked. Young people in this industry, especially ones without proper adult guidance, are put into very vulnerable positions. Hollywood protects those men and normalizes their behavior to everyone, including victims.
Drew Barrymore was gaslit in the same way many children in Hollywood can be. Seeing her speak and be open with Dylan isn’t just another celebrity trying to clean the red in the ledger. It is two survivors of a system that doesn’t protect children speaking together and sharing their pain.
In response to Drew saying thank you to Dylan for sharing her story, she says, “It’s just so meaningful because it’s easy for me to say, ‘Of course you shouldn’t work with him. He’s a jerk, he’s a monster,’ but I just find it incredibly brave and incredibly generous that you would say to me that my story, and what I went through, was important enough to you to reconsider that.”
Dylan’s story will reach a larger audience because Drew Barrymore is one of the few people out there who will have her on a major platform and let her tell her story. That is important, and it matters.
(image: Screenshot)
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