Drew Barrymore - Lucy Ellis|Bryony Sutherland

The six-year-old Drew Barrymore was already an old pro by the time Spielberg handpicked her to star in E.T., having made her screen debut in a dogfood ad at the age of 11 months. But the heir to the Barrymore acting dynasty had also inherited her family's tragic legacy of substance abuse. She took her first drink at nine, progressed to marijuana 18 months later and began using cocaine at 13. By 1988, Drew was in rehab; she finally got clean a year later. In danger of winding up another washed-up child star, Drew instead reinvented herself as the sex-symbol star of Poison Ivy. The mid-1990s saw another image transformation, from slut to sweetheart, as Drew appeared in a string of hit films including Ever After and The Wedding Singer. More recently she has added another string to her bow as producer of the hugely successful Charlie's Angels films. Drew's personal life has also been eventful, with multiple fiances and two short-lived marriages; she is currently linked with Fabrizio Moretti, drummer with the Strokes. This highly readable biography tells the whole story.