She found a new career in her 40s, going from being an actress to being the host of a daytime talk show.
And Drew Barrymore is now telling fans not to hold his breath for his next film.
The Santa Clarita Diet star, 46, talked about her plans while talking to Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM show on Wednesday, telling Cohen that she didn’t want to be stuck on a film set while her daughters – Olive, aged eight years old and Frankie, aged six – are still young.
“To be honest, the answer is no, I don’t want to be on the set of a movie right now, but that can change when my kids are older,” she said to Andy, who is the father of a son himself.
Sabbatical: Drew Barrymore is ruling out a return to the cinema while his eight- and six-year-old daughters are still young. She was seen on the set of her daytime talk show in September 2020 above
Speaking about how his own life in show-business influenced the decision, Drew said: ‘I stopped doing this when my kids were born, because I had been doing it since I was in diapers, when I was 11 months old, that’s when I started.’
‘And it was stupid for me to leave the production of films in a double boiler so that I could be present and raise my children alone’, Drew, whose last credit in the film was Miss You Already of 2015.
‘I didn’t want to be on a movie set asking the nanny how the kids were doing. I was like, this is not my journey, ‘she continued.
Although stopping acting was a huge leap, Barrymore said it was actually a liberating choice, leaving her free to work on other projects.
‘When you step away from it, it’s a lot less scary. And you know, I started marks. I managed to write a book. ‘
Saving grace: the 46-year-old star said that after a long break from the spotlight, her 2017-2019 horror / comedy series, The Santa Clarita Diet, “saved” her by helping the star reconnect with herself over a period difficult
Pause: Opening during a conversation on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXm program, she said motherhood gave her the opportunity to press for a break after decades in the industry
But as a lifelong actress, she ended up missing out on the opportunity to use her skills.
Finding a middle ground, Drew tried his hand at television, choosing a project with a timeline – and a story – that suited his life much better.
“I have to do it at the perfect time, like a Netflix show called the Santa Clarita Diet,” she explained.
‘… I was so deeply involved in being a mother to my children. I was like, “I don’t know who I am anymore.” I think I went too far in the opposite direction [after leaving film.]’
‘If I can’t remember that I’m an individual with a skill set, I can die. So I started playing this woman who eats people and that’s exactly how I felt. ‘
‘And it was just perfect and it was comedy and it was delicious and it was fun and it was irreverent and I couldn’t have loved it more. And it really saved me. ‘
Finding the way: Admitting that I was in a difficult situation personally at the time, she said to Andy: ‘I gained a lot of weight. I had lost myself. I was going through a very difficult divorce because it was the worst thing and everything I didn’t want to happen ‘
The Santa Clarita Diet, whose three hilarious and bloody seasons were launched from 2017 to 2019, came at a critical juncture for Drew, who had just come out of his third divorce.
Admitting that I was personally in a difficult situation, she said to Andy: ‘I gained a lot of weight. I had lost myself. I was going through a very difficult divorce because it was the worst thing and everything I didn’t want to happen. ‘
“And that’s what made it all the more difficult,” she continued. ‘And I just have to remember, like, you’re a person with a story. You are not just a lost mother. You are, you know, a human individual and can get lost in something and be reunited.
‘That show was the best thing that could have happened to me,’ she said.
‘It reminded me not to lose the baby with the bath water, I don’t want to be filming all the time because I want to raise my children. It is as if you are that person, do not abandon who you are for your children. I think it’s a recipe for disaster and parenting. ‘
Balance: ‘That show was the best thing that could have happened to me,’ she said. ‘It reminded me not to lose the baby with the bath water.’ Drew is seen in 2019 above