From E.T. to 50 DREW'S QUEST FOR PEACE

The divorced star says she much prefers the company of women

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Turning 50 just can’t come soon enough for Drew Barrymore. “I’m so excited,” the Charlie’s Angels star enthuses. “I have no issues with aging. This is the happiest I’ve been in my life.”

It’s hard to believe the little girl who charmed the world in the 1982 blockbuster E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial will celebrate her half-century on February 22.

As an effervescent six-year-old, she delighted audiences around the globe with her performance as wide-eyed Gertie in the Steven Spielberg classic family flick.

And ever since, for good and for bad, her life has been an open book. Alcohol and drug addiction, career highs and lows, romances, weddings, divorces and babies. There’s been a lot to follow in the saga of the Hollywood wild child. Now, after five decades, she’s ready for the next chapter of her life to begin.

“I’m so sick of the guilt and sadness,” says Drew, who for the past four years has successfully hosted her own daytime talk show.

“It’s the greatest habit I will ever break in my life. When I talk about beating myself up, I see the heads nodding and I’m like, ‘We can’t do this to ourselves anymore.’ I’ve seen the light. It doesn’t mean I’ve got it mastered, but I see the light enough to know that this isn’t good.