Drew was obviously the belle of the ball at the UK premiere of Music and Lyrics. Even her friend Hugh is basking in Drew's glow. It hasn't always been that way of course. After finding huge success as a child actor, at the age of fifteen she found herself broke and working in a coffee shop. You'd think that Drew would be pretty bitter about the whole thing, but she says she's actually thankful for that time because it helped her gain some perspective on things. Here's highlights: [1]

• “I felt really upset when people felt sad for me,” she tells me. “Like, ‘Oh, wow, washed-up child actor having to work in a coffeehouse. It must be really, really awful.’ But I’m really glad for that time in my life—having to ride the bus, struggling to pay my rent, getting heckled by people.”
• Barrymore spent her mid-teens trying to break back into show business. “I got grief from a lot of casting directors,” she recalls. “They were rude and patronizing. They would say, ‘Do you know how lucky you are to be in this room?’ I would just say, ‘Yes, I do.’ It was humbling and humiliating.”

Finally Drew got a break with the low-budget film Poison Ivy and from there she made her way back. It's funny to think of all the different roles she has played, the cute little girl (check out her revisiting this role on SNL last weekend) [1], the dangerous seductress, and now the romantic leading lady. The last is the one that she thinks suits her the best, "I like happy endings," she says.

For more pics including co-stars Hugh and Kristen Johnston just

Source [2]