Drew Barrymore Bonds With Nicole Richie Over Being “Transparent” With Their Kids About Their Pasts: “I Want My Kids To Know The Full Me”

Growing up in the spotlight has presented Drew Barrymore and Nicole Richie with their fair share of scandal. But when it comes to being “transparent” with their children, neither mother has shied away from their wild past.

Richie popped by this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show to promote the remake of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. But before they chatted about the movie, the two women bonded over their similar parenting techniques.

“Do your kids also catch you in your old stuff?” Barrymore asked. “Like, my kids — all the time. They’re like, ‘Oh, really? Oh, you don’t want me to do that? That’s interesting because I found out that you did that.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, that internet! It foiled me again!'”

Richie then admitted that she had been “preparing for the internet” since the day she became a mom.

“I’ve been very open with my kids,” she said. “I knew that they would be on the internet one day so they’re gonna find out. They do have fingers. I’ve been very transparent with them.”

Barrymore confirmed that she has been honest with her kids too, noting that she didn’t want to “pretend” she was perfect and have them find out the truth later on.

“And then have them be shocked and not know me,” Richie added. “Each chapter of our life makes us who we are. So I want my kids to know the full me.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the Simple Life alum — who shares daughter Harlow, 16, and son Sparrow, 14, with her husband Joel Madden — gushed over her “insightful” and “intuitive” children.

“I think it’s really important that we show our kids that we are humans and just allow that space,” she said. “Even to ourselves — we are not perfect and we are humans. I love who my kids are. I just enjoy who they are. I learn so much from them.”

However, Richie confessed that she both “loved” and was “terrified” to see herself through their lens.

“I learn so much about myself,” she explained. “Sometimes I think that I’m being cool or chill and that I’m hiding something that’s bothering me and one of them will say to me, ‘OK, well, you are doing that thing where you’re pretending you’re OK and you’re not OK.’ And I’m like, ‘Ooh, I thought I was really hiding it.'”

The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.