Drew Barrymore is having her second baby girl which apparently means people are entitled to ask her if she plans to allow her daughter to pose for Playboy like Barrymore did when she was young. She patiently answered that no, she would try to discourage her child from making the same mistakes she did, but was clear that she doesn't regret her past because it's allowed her to be the strong person she is today. "I love the very exposed, humorous, imperfect, never trying to pretend to be perfect journey that I have been on in my life," she told ABC News. "I have no regrets in my life whatsoever. I'm psyched about it all. I'm just in such a different mind frame. I'm in mom mode now."
Barrymore had a wild-child past and went to rehab at age 13 for alcohol and drug abuse but she worked through her struggles and has come out on the other side better than ever and excited to be a role model for her 15-month-old daughter Olive, and her other daughter who's on the way. "The best kind of parent you can be is to lead by example," she said. "Whatever I've experienced in my life is a part of my story, and I'm proud of that."
What's the example she plans to set? Barrymore says she's now "so much about school, consistency and tradition." The actress is doing just fine, and isn't ashamed to have lead the life she did.
She's not the only star to feel this way. Other positive influencers include Demi Lovato whose very public struggle with addiction, self harm, and an eating disorder could have easily shut her down and made her feel ashamed. But she chose not to let that part of her life hold her back and instead, like Barrymore, got the treatment that she needed and moved forward stronger than ever.
She is open to discussing these events of her life and in interviews it's clear how much she's grown. "I will not let my past define who I am today," she said when honored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. "I'm a survivor of mental health and substance abuse issues, and I'm not ashamed." She's taken her past and worked through it to reach an even stronger future saying, "The [bullying] will stick with me for life. But going through that also made me stronger. Mean comments don’t affect me the same way because I’m more confident. If I read something where someone calls me a bitch, I know I’m not, so I laugh at it.”
With strong women like Barrymore and Lovato moving beyond their struggles, it gives us hope that Ke$ha will, too. After the singer checked into rehab for an eating disorder, her mother spoke to People about Ke$ha's former manager David Sonenberg. She overheard a conference call between the singer and Sonenberg where he was screaming: "You need to lose weight! I don't care what you do ... take drugs, not eat, stick your finger down your throat!"
That's obviously a horrific a thing for someone to do, but I know Ke$ha can rise above it because she's already shown signs that she is. She took the important step of going to rehab to get better and being truthful with her fans about why exactly she was going. For stars to be honest about their pasts and to dare to embrace them sometimes baffles the media, but it's really the best thing for them and it shows us just how strong these women are.
I applaud the Barrymores and Lovatos and Ke$has of the world who are accepting themselves for who they are and getting stronger because of it. As Lovato has said, "You can overcome and get through anything." So here's to those women for showing us that yes, you can have a pockmarked past, but you can rise out of it better than ever and not be ashamed of the path that lead to where you are today.
Images: hollsrden/Tumblr; just-once-i-wanna-feel-something/Tumblr; keshascult/Tumblr
