While Drew Barrymore is still on TV every day thanks to her syndicated daytime talk show, that’s the only screen fans will be able to find her on for awhile. The Charlie’s Angels star says she’s given up on acting in films! The 46-year-old claims she’s done with the silver screen, as long as she’s raising daughters Olive, 8, and Frankie, 6, by ex-husband Will Koppelman. “If I’m being honest, I don’t want to be on a film set right now,” Drew told host Andy Cohen during a March 10 appearance on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy. But movie fans shouldn’t lose all hope, as Drew added, “But that could change when my kids are older.”
Drew says that because she grew up working in the film industry since childhood — becoming beloved to fans at age six playing Gert in 1982’s E.T. — she’s had her fill of the movie making business. “I stopped doing these when my kids were born, because I’ve done it since I was in diapers at 11 months old when I started,” she explained. Drew’s last major film roles were in the mixed family comedy Blended opposite pal Adam Sandler in 2014, and Miss You Already with Toni Collette in 2015.
“And it was a no brainer to me to put making movies on a back burner so that I could be present and raise my kids myself. I didn’t want to be on a film set asking the nanny how the kids were. I was like, ‘that is not my journey.’ And so when you step away from it, it’s a lot less scary,” she revealed to Andy.
Drew noted that she isn’t just being a mom and talk show host. “And you know, I’ve started brands. I was able to write a book.” She wrote her semi-memoir Wildflower in 2015, sharing the ups and downs of her life so far. Drew started three labels in partnership with Walmart: Flower Beauty, Flower Home, and Flower Home Kids, and has her own clothing, jewelry and accessories collection Dear Drew by Drew Barrymore, which she sells through Amazon.com.
While Drew specifically said she didn’t want to be on a movie set, she still seems open to television work. The actress starred on Netflix’s The Santa Clarita Diet for three seasons from 2017-2019. She told Andy that she took the part of Sheila Hammond on the dark comedy because at the time she was “so knee deep into mothering” that she wanted to remind herself that “I’m an individual with a skill set.” Drew said the show “saved” her, especially after she and Will divorced in 2016.
“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,” Drew proclaimed. “I had gained a lot of weight. I had lost my way. I was going through a really difficult divorce in that it just was the worst thing and everything I didn’t want to happen. And that’s what made it difficult. And that show was the greatest thing that could have ever happened to me.” Hopefully Drew will have lasting success with her talk show, but her fans will always welcome her return to acting.