Machine Gun Kelly Recalls Mental Health Struggles in Chat With Drew Barrymore

In a candid interview on The Drew Barrymore Show, Machine Gun Kelly said he hasn't given himself "the time to just accept that it's OK to not be OK."

By Corinne Heller Dec 09, 2021 7:18 PMTags

Machine Gun Kelly is keeping it real.

On an episode of The Drew Barrymore Show that is set to air on Friday, Dec. 10, the 31-year-old rocker and actor and host Drew Barrymore had a candid chat about mental health, as he painted her nails with his newly released unisex UN/DN LAQR nail polish.

"I think I'm new to being vulnerable outside of songs, so it's like, I see a lot of pictures of me and there's like, smiles on them," he said. "It's just weird though because I didn't feel good at all that day and I kind of am sick of smiling on days when I don't feel like smiling. And I feel like this odd pressure because I don't want, like, my fans to think that I'm taking something for granted."

He continued, "So if, like, I accept an award and I'm like, super smiley but behind the scenes, I was really, there was like stuff going on, or I didn't feel, I don't know, like, a lot of what I do is for other people and I haven't given myself the time to just accept that it's OK to not be OK."

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The rocker, whose real name is Colson Baker, continued, "My whole point is, I just didn't want to bring that into the show. I'd love to talk about funny stuff and anything that you have for me. I would love to just get out of what I'm doing."

Drew responded, "I don't mean to sound creepy but I like you so much more. I really do."

The 46-year-old actress and host then got personal, opening up about her own mental health struggle following her "really painful" 2016 divorce from ex-husband Will Kopelman, father of their daughters Olive, 9, and Frankie, 7.

"I wasn't doing very well and I just wanted to go talk to some people and how to pull myself out of a hole and I had these two kids that I had to fight for and I needed help," she said. "So I started reaching out to different people and eventually, I really made some big, sweeping changes in my life and I got on a whole new track—not back on track, but a brand new one that I helped build."

The Drew Barrymore Show

After the interview was taped, Drew talked about the chat on CBS Mornings, telling co-host Gayle King, "We were just sent to do an interview about his nail polish, UN/DN. I'm just a really big fan, so I'd been chasing him to do an interview, and he doesn't do a lot of press. So I don't know what it was that he felt safe, but...he broke a sort of pattern."

"I just was so surprised by his vulnerability, as was he," Drew said. "I think it is time for us, especially coming out of what we've come out of, is how can we show our vulnerability? How can we talk about, if something is going on, what is the path to getting better? And then talking about that journey and being more communicative. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a revolt against the perfection right now that we are all forced to see and feel through social media."

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