Drew Barrymore received some solid advice from Steven Spielberg when she was just 7 years old and has carried his wise words with her throughout her life.
“When Steven Spielberg gives you advice, you listen,” she explained at Self magazine and Fidelity’s “Empowering Conversations” event in New York on Tuesday.
Opportunities to work on commercials and endorsements poured in after the child actress starred in “E.T.” but Barrymore, 40, said Spielberg discouraged her from taking her young career in that direction.
“I remember him saying to me, ‘Please don’t do that.’ My mom and I were from a [single-parent] home. We weren’t doing very well economically. It was extremely tantalizing to take these opportunities. He said, ‘in the broad vision of life, it will water you down. And if you choose your battles carefully, it will be a lot more meaningful,'” she recalled. “At seven with a single-mother home, that was really hard to stay in that type of strict mandate.”
The director’s advice really resonated with Barrymore, who held off on endorsements until she was offered a CoverGirl deal almost 30 years later.
“They came along and they said we’d love to work with you as a spokesmodel. And I said I am not a spokesmodel. I am Josie Grossie. So that’s not gonna work but I really appreciate the idea. However, I love producing and I love being behind things and I love photographers and I love graphics. I studied all of that stuff forever so, maybe one day. And they were like okay. Then they came back and they said would you ever consider being co-creative director? And I said yes. That I would love to do,” she said.