Drew Barrymore's Brother Is Homeless
If you are ever in Los Angeles and see a homeless guy in a t-shirt that says, "I'm Drew Barrymore's brother," it actually is him. Well, it is him until the other homeless get wind of this and all rush out and get their own I'm Drew Barrymore's brother shirts in hopes of getting the big bucks from passers by. John Barrymore III, who is Drew's half brother has been homeless on and off for awhile. People have tried to let John sleep at their places, but apparently he is kind of like his dad and all the Barrymore guys going back for generations. A mean and belligerent drunk. Apparently Drew has done nothing to help her half-brother. That seems kind of harsh. I understand getting tired of supporting your family or always bailing them out, but is it really that hard to just get someone a place to stay. It is not expensive and it feels kind of cheap of you not to help a homeless person who is your relative. Rent him a place for a year and you spend, what like $15,000 since it is LA. For your last movie you made like $15M? Yeah, come on.
60 comments:
What? Drew Barrymore has a brother? Since when?
Unfortunately Enty, until an addict wants to get help, he will siphon out all the money, or anything of worth he can get his hands on and sell, for their next high or booze.
So getting him and paying for his apartment so he could safely get high does not unfortunately work. I'm pretty sure Drew had tried.
But until he makes the decision to get better, there is no place that could hold him.
agree with rita, we don't know the whole story. i have a homeless relative, sometimes there is nothing you can do.
I don't blame her at all. Drew has shown herself to be a kind and generous person over and over, so I'll bet she has her reasons for this.
I don't fucking blame her. She most likely has helped him or she knows that if she helps him, it'll open the floodgates and he'll fuck her life up.
My brother is a piece of shit sociopath and my sister and I don't even bother with him anymore. Can't fucking wait for him to die.
You don't enable addict relatives - not with money or even a place to stay. You just don't. I don't blame Drew in the slightest. Plus - what sort of relationship, if any, does she have with the guy? Just because they are related doesn't mean there is any sort of familial relationship.
I'm sorry, I have too many functional substance abusing relatives to agree with you, Enty. One of them was, in fact, staying with me until yesterday when he emptied my wallet while I slept, stole my ATM card and my car, and is apparently out joyriding and having a good time, having cleaned out my checking account, while I sit home unable to go to pulmonary rehab because I have no wheels and no cash to pay a cab.
The bank says they will prosecute vigorously. The cops say that because I had previously loaned him my car, it's not really stolen.
Drew doesn't owe her brother a damn thing.
My husband and I are dealIng with a freeloading, drug abusing relative, his daughter. We only ever hear from her when she wants money, always tries to fill our heads with her cockamamy stories, needs rent/food/clothes... But the money never goes to necessities, only partying & drugs.
I decided to only get her the actual things she claimed to need & told her if she needed food or clothes, I'd go get it for her. Haven't heard from her since... You can't help an addict, unless they want to help themselves (to more than just your wallet...)
Kathy Griffin has a very similiar story. Her brother is a long time addict with mean tendencies, who has exhausted all family relationships.
Same opinion as about Madonna's brother. It's not for us to judge knowing NO DETAILS about the situation. Also, an addict causes problems for himself, and for the people who try to help him (or her). For example, an addict might use a free house to house his friends and create a nuisance. Also, how nasty of this little shit to trade on his sister's hard work and fame. It's a truism for a reason: sometimes tough love is the best kind. Lastly, sitting in sanctimonious judgment of a sad situation like this is truly unbecoming. Shut it.
I co-sign everyone else's comments. How do you know she even has a relationship with him? Perhaps they've been estranged for years or don't even know each other that well to start.
She must have at least enough money to fix that Gawd-awful hair she's got going in this pic. If that is becoming a fad, then count me in! I can do that on MY budget.
Oh, and I second all y'all's comments--maybe he's a total creep!
Drew has been a substance abuser herself, and I am sure she is very aware of what her brother needs. I imagine that she has tried her best to help him. This is none of our business. I just hope she's strong enough to stand by her convictions in the wake of this news, which is likely to cause some backlash. However, I must say how proud I am of my fellow CDaNers for being so non-judgmental.
I meant dysfunctional up there. Of course they function very well at abusing substances.
When my mom was facing homelessness, I let her stay with my husband and I.
Now, my husband and I are divorcing. He split to live with his parents, and she went with him. He short sold the house from underneath me, and I'm looking forward to being homeless.
Hooray for being disabled and homeless! (My disability isn't addiction related. I'm a dialysis patient. I do home hemo. HA the irony.)
Amartel: "Lastly, sitting in sanctimonious judgment of a sad situation like this is truly unbecoming. Shut it."
Ahem. Might I say that no one tells our Enty to 'shut it.' I don't think that we really talk that way on this site, but I hear Perez HIlton is looking for readers/suckers to squeeze more money out of his advertisers.
I'm imagining that Enty, being an entertainment lawyer in LA, has an inkling about what addicts are like and how difficult it is to deal with them.
For a multi-millionaire to have a brother who is homeless is pretty shocking. Among other things, it means that some other entity (the government or charity or other people) is feeding them when they need to be fed, and clothing them, and housing them, even occasionally. For madonna and it seems, drew, to have their purse strings pulled tight and allowing someone else to pay for their sibling to live seems like it is the definition of sanctimony.
I am sick of posts like this. We don't know the whole story and where there is an addict, there is a lot of stuff going on.
Also, it's more than likely that Drew's brother isn't a huge drain on State and charity resources being that he is, well, homeless and not living in a shelter (thus implying he is probably still using / drinking / whatevering). That said, even if he is a drain on resources, why should Drew have to pick up the expenses because her half-brother can't get his shit together?? I just don't get that...
Sorry Annabella, I disagree. I agree with others who say we don't know the whole story, and Enty admitted as much by using the word 'apparently'. That's a very important word, but it basically means the same as 'rumor has it'. We don't know if Drew has offered him help or not. Perhaps she has given him hotel rooms, and he was thrown out of them for his behavior. Perhaps she won't rent him a place for fear he will burn it down (my husband's addict friend often falls asleep with beer in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other). Perhaps she has given him money for food and he uses it for drugs. We have no idea.
But I wouldn't tell Enty to 'shut it' that's just rude and unnecessary.
She should be an enabler? Get real! You do NOT enable these people ever. You let them feel the full effects of their behavior. It is the only way it will stop.
FS, maybe thats how her house with Tom Green burned down?!
@syko - so sorry to hear about this. Hope the cops catch him and you're able to get the car and some money back.
But yeah, I agree with pretty much everyone. None of us know what's actually going on in Drew's family, and to presume anything, either way, would be wrong. No one should be obligated to help anyone, even family - that's something you do only if you want to.
Drew was raised by her mother (not a Barrymore), and possibly may not know (or not know very well) her half brother. So I'm certainly giving her a pass on this one.
I'm guessing different mothers, probably didn't see much of each other...I'm not going to judge her.
He is not her responsibility .
Presuming this guy is either a drunk or an addict, how is Drew paying for a place for him going to help him? The money he doesn't spend on rent or bills or food will just go to something else. Not sure what the deal is between Drew and her brother, but Drew has shown herself to be extremely loyal to people, so she must have a reason to not help the guy.
I dont think Drew even knows her half siblings very well. She didnt grow up with them and her father was completely absent from her almost her entire life. So in a lot of ways this is just a stranger who shares some DNA with her.
My husband and I had my alcoholic brother in our house. NEVER AGAIN!
Paying for a place for an addict would just lead to more trouble. There's no telling what kind of damage he and his lowlife friends would do to it, and since it would be her name on the lease, she'd be responsible. I imagine that if her brother really wanted to get clean and came to her and asked her to pay for rehab, she would do it. She seems like a very generous person. But you can't be an enabler. You aren't doing yourself or the addict any favors.
Also, I co-sign on Selena's hair comment. If this is a new fad, I must be WAY ahead of the game, because my hair's had long dark roots for months now.
the biggest question here is, did you call drew barrymore and let her know the expert advise, enty? i'm sure she would be very happy to hear your perspective.
Near here last year, a homeless man was run over by a garbage truck while sleeping in a definitely NON-sleeping place (hence, able to be run over by the garbage truck). His family was shocked but they had not heard from him in a long time. He was a mature adult and lived on the street because he would not take his medication like he was supposed to. They would lose contact with him for a long periods at a time so how would they help?
Some wayward people just cannot be helped by relatives.
Regardless, this Barrymore III guy is a dumbass for advertising that his sister is loaded. Just who does he think will give him money off the streets if they think he already has someone who will/might give him money? Duh!
Ha ha, texshan! Mine, however, would be mousy gray at the top...yeesh, perish the thought.
@Julie, I'm sorry for your situation. It sounds pretty awful. :-( Hope you find a place soon.
ITA about not supporting a junkie. If she pays for a decent living place he'll pull out the pipes and wiring and sell them, and lease the space as a crackhouse.
some of them don't want a place to live and some of them frankly have sucked the last dime out of anyone willing to help them. our neighbors have a situation like this. the mom finally kicked the daughter out (she's 40) about a year ago. she was using meth aqain and ten pulled a gun on a group that was at the house. you get to the point where its enough. emotionally it beats you up.
oh Juile!! i'm so sorry :(
@Syko and Julie, sorry for your shitty family members. Sucks when a good deed gets punished, and punished so unfairly harshly!
I co-sign everyone else above.
"Apparently Drew has done nothing to help her half-brother." - as if we could possibly know this, her experience and her state of mind regarding her brother.
speaking as someone who has a number of relatives with substance abuse issues, the only place she should get him is a long-term residential rehab bed - if he agrees to go. If not, tough luck.
the barrymore 'dynasty' appear to have a wild card in every generation. this is so very sad.
and Julie, (((hugs)))...i'm so sorry about all you're going thru.
I actually met this guy at a bar earlier this year in Studio City, I think. Anyway, he was very proud to announce to the entire bar that he was her brother, although no one really seemed to care. He was there alone, but drove a mercedes and kept going to the car to walk his dog, that he had left in the car.
Thats all I got about the guy.
Enty - she probably did try to help to help him and he spent her money on booze or drugs. You can only do so much.
It's possible I missed it in the comments here. but everyone seems to forget that when Drew was 11 years old, she was drinking a doing drugs. Hell, I remember a picture taken of her at Studio 54 when she was 6 years old, and she looked ready to pass out. I have no idea if she is "sober" now (and I actually think she probably does still drink, but within moderation), but I think that eye opening little experience back in the late 80's was a fairly effective wake-up call to her to get her act together. And she did get it together! Blohan should take notes.
So my point is that even if she wants to help this relative of hers, it could impact her own sobriety if he is still drinking or using drugs
I can see this opinion will be unpopular, but so be it.
I'm sick of all these multi-millionaire celebrities who won't help their relatives who are in a bind! They'll go out and spend $50,000 on a handbag, but they won't bother with a single dollar for somebody who's fucked up and needs help?
And before anyone says, "You shouldn't judge, because you don't know"-actually I do know. I have a sister who is mentally ill and has said and done horrible things to me and my family for her entire life. She has dabbled in drugs many times and probably still is dabbling. I don't trust her and I don't even like her. We are currently estranged. But if I was making $15-$20 million a year and she was homeless, I would still try to help her. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment. But I just couldn't do nothing. She's my sister, whether I like it or not.
If Drew and Madonna have actually tried to help their relatives and it has not worked, then I can understand them backing off. But if they haven't even tried, I just can't agree with that.
OMFG, her father famously abandoned Drew's mother before Drew was even born. And was married four times.
Give me a break.
it's her half-brother and they are a generation apart, age wise. I doubt they ever had much if any of a relationship, and it sounds like others in his life have tried to help him unsuccessfully.
We don't know that she hasn't made an effort to as well. She seems like a decent person and I don't really think there is enough info on this to have a fair opinion.
@Krissie - sorry for what you've been through, but please understand, no one is judging YOU.
None of us can say with 100% certainty what Drew has or hasn't done, so therefore, we're choosing not to judge her. Some people are very low-key and fly under the radar, never discussing their donations or volunteer work.
Don't be so quick to judge. We just don't know. And the truth is, she doesn't owe any of us an explanation.
Maybe it's because I've already started drinking (it *is* Saint Nick night, BTW), but I'm feeling so very proud of our little CDAN community tonight. Many of us disagree with Enty & other posters, but we do so RESPECTFULLY. I see no blogger sycophants here; in fact, posters aren't afraid to tell Enty he might be going about something the wrong way. But there's no name calling, no vitriol ... only true life examples of why a certain point may be overlooked.
Love you all. <3
Now back to your originally scheduled bitching.
Syko, Julie..My heart goes out to you both.
Agree w/ everyone that it's not really in anyone's best interest to enable an addict if after so many tries they just keep falling down. At some point they must help themselves. And if he actually has the Mercedes? Then someone has helped him already. Must just feel like he's entitled to it because of his half sister.
Chopchop is a cuddly drunk! Beats a nasty one any day. Cheers to Saint Nick and to all CDANers, and right back at you Chopchop.
Don't judge until you've walked a mile shoeless because your addict sibling stole them from you. There's always more to the story. And where's the rest of the family? Why is it Drew's job to tend to him? Because she's worked hard for her money? Because she busted her ass to overcome her addictions? They are cut from the same cloth, but sometimes you gotta sew your own pants. Just sayin'.
Wasn't this a blind about two months ago? A list actor with a homeless brother? Anyone?
My bro in law is a mentally ill drug and alcohol abuser. As bad as we feel for him there is no way we are giving him a cent or paying for anything. You can try to rationalize and forgive but when they've screamed obscenities at you in the middle of the night, telling you how badly you've failed them it takes time. The last straw, after you've torn the house apart looking for yet another missing item, they steal your grandmothers necklace. You know its worthless to everyone but you and you know it was either sold for a couple of dollars or it was tossed when it was found to be worthless.
Didn't we discuss this recently regarding Madonna's brother? Not to be all conspiracy theorist but this, coupled with the Taylor Real Housewives article) makes me think new writer.
Considering that Enty himself posted a blind that was later confirmed to be Drew (she helped out a homeless family by hiring the dad, found them a place to live, and helped get the kids into school), I seriously doubt it's a matter of her being selfish. Probably she either barely knows him (blood isn't necessarily thicker than water) and/or she's tried to help, but to no avail. You can't save anyone unless they really want to be saved--we see it w/LiLo, and I'm sure this is a similar situation.
I agree with Robin. Hasn't Drew helped out homeless people before? How do we know she hasn't tried to help out John before and he was an ass about it?? There is someone I know of in Philly. The older man is well off and his brother is homeless. He has rented his homeless sibling many apartments over the years. The guy stays in the apartment a few days and disappears again for months.
Some people like the adventure of homeless/vagabondism. They don't like the responsibility of maintaining a home.
On the outside ...
When I was the executive director of a drug treatment funding program for the uninsured, we worked on a project to provide services to the homeless. More than two-thirds of those screened positive for some level of mental illness; most also had a substance abuse problem. But make no mistake: most are mentally ill and receive no treatment -- they are tough to keep in treatment, tough to keep on the necessary meds. No one needs to be judged here. It just sucks. As the older sister of a mentally unstable man, don't judge my ass for what happens to him. I've been bit, hit, choked and stabbed. And I still provided him a place to live, transportation to/from med appointments and job interviews.... HARSH? You have no idea. Sometimes you just. can't. do. any. more. Do I think about him in the middle of the night? What do you think? Sleep tight in your sanctimonious blankie, Enty.
So many on here have had this same situation. It's very sad. :(
I remember you all commenting on the post Enty did about Madonna's brother. I agree w/ the majority, that we don't really know the situation or what DB has really done.
I had a friend who was homeless and living in his car. He spent every last dime of his unemployment on alcohol. Someone offered him a job cross-country, sent him bus fare, and found an apartment for him to share. He fought with the apartment mates, quit his job, and disappeared. Sometimes you can't help someone no matter how hard you try, and give up. My husband didn't even know him and told me to send him money for food. He had money, he just wasn't spending it on food.
I agree with all the others who have said that we don't know the situation. Drew is probably one of the most down-to-earth and kind celebrities out there, and I would bet that she's tried to help him in the past. Some people just can't get it together, and it's sad for everyone involved. :-(
It just breaks my hert how many have suffered the abuse of a loved one who is an addict, mentally ill, etc. Not all may agree but we have been abused by these people in our lives and all of us are scarred in varying degrees.
I am not saying that people who are addicts do not have a disease nor am i saying that addicts etc choose to be as they are. What i am saying is that their issues hurt and abuse those that love them.
It takes years of being a loving "glutton for punishment" or one, ten, etc. horrid experience, as many have posted they have had, to finally just say no and do the tough love thing or whatever it is we individually call it.
I cannot judge anyone whether they continue to enable or they have millions and refuse to. I can see both sides because both sides are having their hearts ripped out on a regular basis.
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