Drew Barrymore ' I Was Out Of Control'

From child star at seven to rehab at 11 to divorcing three husbands, Drew Barrymore has been through the mill – but has emerged a fearless businesswoman and devoted mum Caroline Leaper meets a megastar in fighting form.

- Caroline Leaper

Picture, if you can, the actor Drew Barrymore shuffling around during a sharp Manhattan winter, wearing a boho frock and fleece-lined Crocs. Despite moving to New York four years ago, everything about her wardrobe is still wonderfully kooky and Californian, to the point where it might even be deemed inappropriate for the climate of her new home town.

“I wear Crocs all the time, sticking out from a cute little vintage dress,” she laughs, adding that she loves fashion’s most divisive shoes so much that she has designed a new collection for the brand, putting a flowery spin on its sliders and classic clogs. “People think that they’re a comfort shoe, but I’m obsessed. I’ve been trying to get hold of the Christopher Kane ones for ages.”

Drew has always marched to her own beat when it comes to style, from taffeta and unbrushed curls on the red carpet for her breakthrough role in ET, aged seven, to her rebel-teen look in the 1990s and hippy chic during the noughties. These days, looking glamorous is high on her agenda – just not all the time.

“I dabble in it,” she says. “I know what’s happening in fashion and have a stylist to get me dressed for red carpets, but I tend not to be a purchaser of high-end stuff because I just can’t bring myself to pay the prices. I do love [online shopping outlet] The Outnet though – sometimes you can find designer pieces for, like, 80 per cent off and you think, ‘Okay, now I can justify this.’”