DREW BARRYMORE - DREW'S YEAR IN HELL MAKES HER STRONG AND GRATEFUL

DREW BARRYMORE has revealed just how bad her wildchild past was - her mother sent her to a lockdown rehab centre-cum-mental institute for a year when she was just 13.

The actress was a heavy drinker and a drug abuser in her teens, and her mother JAID lost her patience with the young hellraiser when she trashed the family home after a night out partying.

Barrymore spent 18 months in and out of the unnamed facility, including one full year of 'prison' - but she insists the experience has made her the star she is today.

She says, "It was very bizarre. All of a sudden I wasn't allowed to do anything. But it made me so grateful.

"They'd take us to meetings in a van and I would look out of the window and think, 'Does that person realise how cool it is just to be able to walk across the street?'"

Upon her release, Barrymore had so much perspective on her life that she quit school to start working and "divorced" her parents.

She adds, "I worked in a coffee house when I was 14. People were like, 'Hey, I know you, can I have a panini?'"