THE World ACCORDING TO Drew

She's Hollywood royalty who's been in the public eye since she was just 6 years old. But through her hit daytime talk show, we're only just getting to know the real Drew Barrymore

- MARIA FONTOURA

Is there anyone who's lived more lives than Drew Barrymore? From heart-melting child actor to precocious club-going tween, provocative '90s siren, goofy rom-com heroine, savvy entrepreneur and now host of the lovably quirky Drew Barrymore Show - think: part therapy session, part positivity workout, all group hug - she's the undisputed queen of reinvention. Barrymore, 48, wears the crown lightly, with an irrepressible spirit that infuses a room. When people talk, she listens with her whole body. If they cry, she cries too. She grabs hands and gives out hugs like a hybrid of a presidential front-runner and Miss America. "Authentic" has become a cliché, especially when describing celebrities, but Barrymore is simply the real deal.

Throughout a remarkable life of ups and downs (she entered rehab for the first time at 13, then was placed in an institution; emancipated herself from her parents at 15; has wed and divorced three times), she's taken her lumps with grace and kept her heart pinned firmly to her sleeve. So, how has she stayed standing? Over an hourlong chat on a pink velvet couch in her dressing room at CBS Studios in Manhattan, Barrymore - who is mom to daughters Olive, 11, and Frankie, 9, with ex-husband Will Kopelman - uncorked her most valuable life lessons.

1 Stay curious