Drew Barrymore told an audience on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" that one of her daughters suffered a serious injury in an e-bike accident while the family was traveling in France, and that quick thinking by the child helped stop the bleeding.
Barrymore, 50, said the girl was about a mile out in the mountains when she "ripped her whole elbow open" and the family spent several days in and out of an emergency room. "She's fine, yes, everything's fine," Barrymore said, describing how her daughter used her bra as a tourniquet until they could get medical help.
Barrymore said she had to cancel a recent meet-up with Colbert's wife, Evelyn McGee-Colbert, because of the incident and expressed admiration for her daughter's composure. Colbert responded on the show, "You raised her right," to which Barrymore replied that she had not specifically prepared her child for such a situation and instead marveled at the youngster's instincts.
The actress shared the account ahead of the debut of the sixth season of "The Drew Barrymore Show." Barrymore, who has two daughters with her ex-husband Will Kopelman, has previously spoken publicly about parenting without a strict blueprint and contrasted past generational leniency with what she described as more protective, "helicopter" parenting today.
Barrymore has two daughters, Olive, born in 2012, and Frankie, born in 2014. She and Kopelman divorced in 2016 after four years of marriage. She did not identify which daughter was injured on Colbert's program, and provided no further medical details beyond describing the emergency-room visits and that her daughter is recovering.
The account underscores the risks of cycling accidents and the kinds of first aid measures sometimes used in the field, though Barrymore did not comment on medical guidance or long-term prognosis. The actress returned her focus to promoting her talk show on Colbert's program, emphasizing relief that her child is on the mend.
