Drew Barrymore attends the Z100 IHeartRadio Jingle Ball Press Room on 10 December 2021 in New York City. (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
Drew Barrymore has revealed how the cast of Queer Eye helped her reenter the dating scene after her divorce.
The Charlie’s Angels star has been married three previous times to Jeremy Thomas, Tom Green and Will Kopelman. Barrymore and Kopelman, who have two children together, separated in 2016 after four years of marriage.
After several years out of the dating world, Barrymore admitted in an interview with ET that it’s been “hard” for her to try to find love again.
Barrymore shared that she didn’t “know how to date with daughters”, who she said are her “central focus”. As such, she said romance had “really been in the back seat” of her life.
She also revealed that she developed an “inner dialogue” that there was potentially “something wrong” with her because she’d been single for “a really long time”.
So that’s where the cast of Queer Eye came in to give her a crash course on dating during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. The Fab Five listened in and gave their pointers to Barrymore as she had a digital date with chef Sam Talbot.
In an emotional conversation with Bobby Berk, Barrymore admitted it was difficult for her to balance being a mum and wanting to find love.
The 50 First Dates star explained that she didn’t want to “bring people home” as she has “two young girls”. She believed it would take her a “very long time” to meet someone and feel comfortable enough to introduce them to her daughters.
But Berk told her not to put too much pressure on herself as he didn’t think “anybody knows how to do anything” perfectly. He said that admitting “I don’t know how to do it” is usually the “first step of figuring out how to do it”.
Berk also assured Barrymore that she is a “good mom” because she’s thinking about how her future dating life could impact her children.
Barrymore told ET that Berk’s advice was “one of the most healing moments” she experienced in the “last decade”.
“What Bobby said to me, which honestly was one of the most healing moments I have had in the last decade, is he said, ‘Your apprehension and cautiousness is what helps make you a good parent’,” Barrymore said.
She continued: “These are my choices, to introduce people to your children, this is not a wrong choice, this is just my process, and I am not shut down or dysfunctional, it’s that I am very cautious and I put my parenting first.
“To have him say that to me, was something that I really think I needed to hear.
“It was a real gift for me to to get that nod of approval that yeah, my parenting comes first.”
In a later segment on the Drew Barrymore Show, the actor revealed that she has been texting with Talbot after their first Zoom date. She also promised to keep people “informed in a way that feels comfortable for myself” about her future relationships.
“Life is a one foot in front of the other, and I have stayed in the still position for a very long time,” Barrymore added.