Drew Barrymore And Madison Beer Open Up About Suicide
Drew Barrymore and Madison Beer recently found themselves bonding over some of the lowest points in their lives. The 24-year-old singer appeared on yesterday’s (April 26) episode of The Drew Barrymore Show to promote her memoir, The Half of It: A Memoir.
The singer-songwriter told the talk show host that she wrote the memoir because she was “struggling alone for so long,” Beer said. “And I feel like I didn’t have anyone that was being open with it. I felt like I was just by myself in this.” The “Good In Goodbye” singer thought there was something “severely wrong” with her to feel like the only person in the industry to feel that way. She quickly found others were going through the same things when discussed in private.
That led the New York native to write her book. Relating to the young woman’s story, Barrymore decided to share her own journey on levels that are “very difficult to talk about.” She thanked her guest for discussing the topic of mental health, adding that she wants to make her feel safe because she’s been there.
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Asking Beer about her attempts at taking her own life, the singer said things caught up with her that she never wanted to acknowledge or face. “I feel like I was putting on this facade,” Madison said. Days turned into months, which turned into a year of this “suicidal ideation mindset.” She described it to be “very normal” to have those thoughts at the end of every day until she went through with at least two attempts at taking her own life.
“It was, thankfully, obviously unsuccessful,” she continued. “It just all became too much and that’s when I also decided, ‘OK, clearly there’s something more for me to live for.’ I wasn’t successful and I want to do something with that. I want to be able to say I made the choice to live and, what am I gonna do now? What does that mean?”
Madison said it became so “normal that sitting on a balcony and debating jumping off was just something that I kind of did.” Upon reflection and writing about it, she realized what she was doing was a “big deal.” Drew said she was so desperate to “leave the Earth” because she didn’t know where else to turn. Following a suicide attempt at 13, Barrymore’s mother had her hospitalized, an experience she recalled as being committed to a “full psychiatric ward” for a year and a half.
Watch the interview below:
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