When famed French chef Jacques Pépin stopped by The Drew Barrymore Show Monday (Jan. 6), Barrymore looked back on her experience moving into her first apartment on her own at the age of 14.

“I didn’t know how to do anything,” she confessed to Pépin and her guests. “I would start with grilled cheese, and top ramen and macaroni and cheese. I felt so empowered and so adult and I thought one day, one day, I’m going to learn how to cook.”

The actress explained that she began collecting cooking books to help her learn how to cook.

“I just put one foot in front of the other and I’m still a terrible home cook,” she added.

Barrymore has famously been very frank about the difficult time she had growing up in the industry. After beginning her acting career at the age of five, Barrymore soon began receiving treatment for substance abuse problems at the age of 13 before later emancipating from her parents by the time she was 14.

She recently bonded with fellow child actress Keke Palmer, who Barrymore said was sharing the “wisdom” she “earned” from being in the industry since the age of 12 in her new book, Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative.

“I think you are ahead of schedule but also you started ahead of schedule,” she told Palmer on the show, before adding of herself, “Because I didn’t know what the hell age I was growing up, I was like, ‘Please don’t treat me like a child. I pay all the bills and I work all day long.’”

While her parents were supportive of her passion for acting, she admitted that they get “swept up in it too.”

“You’re being treated like an adult because you have adult responsibilities but you’re still a child,” Barrymore said of her experience.

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