Apr 16, 2009, 11:55 GMT
Drew Barrymore's ex-boyfriend was her lifeline when she isolated herself for her latest role.
02/02/2009 - Justin Long - "I lived and breathed for three months as I cut off myself from the rest of the world to literally understand what really being isolated is like." © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos
The 'Grey Gardens' actress communicated through typewritten messages with Justin Long after she cut herself off from the outside world to play Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale in the film.
Praising Justin she said: "Thank God for him because he was my wonderful outlet, my dear friend throughout the process. I had to understand what isolation was really like.
"I lived and breathed for three months as I cut off myself from the rest of the world to literally understand what really being isolated is like."
Drew portrays recluse Little Edie in the film, who lives in isolation and poverty with her mother in a mansion in a wealthy part of New York, in the 1970s.
Drew added the letters were about: "My fears of not being able to pull this character off, this icon, about learning a level of discipline, about facing your fears."
Although Justin, 30, and Drew, 34, split in July 2008 after less than a year of dating, they remain close and are rumoured to have both signed to star in forthcoming romantic comedy 'Going The Distance'.
At the New York premiere of 'Grey Gardens' they posed for photographs together and she was seen whispering into his ear, sparking rumours they may rekindle their romance.
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