Drew Barrymore has not held back about the struggles of returning to the dating scene following her split from ex-husband Will Kopelman.
Barrymore and Kopelman tied the knot in 2012 and later welcomed daughters Olive and Frankie. After four years of marriage, the pair announced their split in April 2016.
After Kopelman married Alexandra Michler in 2021, Barrymore revealed she wasn’t ready to dip her toe in the dating pool.
“I’m not there yet. I have two young girls, and I don’t want to bring people home,” Barrymore said during a January 2022 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show. “I think that it would take me a very long time to meet someone and get to know them before I could ever even introduce them to my daughters.” The actress has since begun to date, keeping fans in the loop about her online dating triumphs and failures.
Scroll down for all of Barrymore’s most candid thoughts about dating:
During an episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, the California native discussed whether she has seen fellow celebs on dating apps.
“Oh yes, I did. I mean, it’s not really fun to not say who they were but a lot of them. It was like looking through an Us Weekly,” Barrymore shared during the September 2020 appearance, adding that she approached online dating “terribly” then. “I got stood up, and I didn’t match with anyone. And my friends gave me this sort of bloated sense of false confidence. They were like, ‘You should try it. You will do great.’ It was a car wreck.”
She continued: “But, you know, I love being able to be in the conversation, I have to say. Like, I definitely had fun with it. And I’ve always wanted to go on a blind date, but my life got in the way of that, so I thought, like, online dating might satiate that desire. And no, it was a real wake-up call. But it was fun, and yes, there were lots of exciting people.”
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In February 2021, the Charlie’s Angels star opened up about how Netflix’s Bridgerton changed her view on meeting new people romantically.
“It was this weird relenting to the fact that I’m probably not going to meet someone in some old-fashioned way,” she said on The Late Late Show With James Corden. “I’m not really aggressively looking, but watching this old-fashioned show was weirdly this keyhole entry point for me to accept the modern world because I am so old-fashioned.”
Barrymore revealed that being “funny” was an important trait in a potential suitor, saying, “I just want to laugh. That’s always been my big criteria — funny, funny, funny. I love humor, it’s my survival guide. And I can’t get rid of my sense of humor. I laugh at everything, I love laughing. So, funny is my favorite quality in any person.”
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“I don’t know how to date with kids,” the Emmy nominee told Bobby Berk during an episode of The Drew Barrymore Show in January 2022. “I’m not there yet. I have two young girls, and I don’t want to bring people home. I think that it would take me a very long time to meet someone and get to know them before I could ever even introduce them to my daughters.”
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During an interview with Gayle King in January 2022, Barrymore explained how her expectations had changed over the years, saying, “I would maybe live with someone again. Maybe. But there’s no way I will ever, ever, ever be married again. Nope. There’s no reason to be.”
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During an episode of her talk show, Barrymore revealed she has dreams about her exes.
“I think that’s the only place I’m getting action these days, is in my dreams, and every like six months I’ll have the hottest dream and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, my God,’” Barrymore shared in March 2022.
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The E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial star shared her dating app profile photo with the world — and got the seal of approval from the CBS Morning Show crew in October 2022.
The Drew Barrymore Show
After revealing that she could go “years without sex” during a September 2022 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the Never Been Kissed star took to her personal blog to open up about why she hasn’t been in an “intimate relationship” in some time. “After two kids and a separation from their father that has made me cautious, I have had the pleasure of shifting my focus when it comes to love for myself and my two daughters,” she wrote in October 2022. “I know that does not include a man nor has it for a while. I’ve come to realize through working in therapy, he said something and I had to write it down. He said, ‘Sex is not love! It is the expression of love.’ I have searched my whole life to have words like that to help me understand the difference and now, thanks to him, I do.”She added, “And since entering life as a single mom, I have not been able to have an intimate relationship. I have had the honor and pleasure to actually work on myself and learn what parenting is again, something I was not exactly clear on growing up and I’ve had many learning curves thrown my way. I’ve been intimidated.” The Music & Lyrics actress noted that she’s been trying to “find my own way” while teaching her two daughters to “love themselves” above all else. “I am just in a completely different place in my life and maybe in the near future I will get into a relationship,” she explained. “It simply hasn’t been my priority. So I’m not a person who needs sex and has to go out there and engage with people on that level. I am someone who is deeply committed to fostering how young girls, my daughters, and myself as a woman, are supposed to function in this world! A relationship with a man has not been top of mind for me for a very long time.” After revealing that she needed to stay “very celibate” after ending her marriage with Kopelman to honor the “loss of a nuclear family that I swore I would have for my daughters,” Barrymore shared that she was “proud” of herself for how she went about her personal healing journey. “I have just simply come to laugh about the fact that it is not my personal priority to be with a partner, but that doesn’t mean it won’t become one someday. I need time. And my view on sex has truly changed,” she wrote.
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Barrymore revealed during an interview with Entertainment Tonight that following George Clooney’s October 2022 appearance on her talk show – where he acted as her impromptu “therapist” — the Oceans 8 star spent “an hour and 15 minutes” giving her advice. “George is the kind of person who also doesn’t have a wall up and I don’t have a wall up,” she shared with ET at the time. “So, if you’re talking to a friend pretending to be in therapy or you’re actually talking to a real therapist, like, the sooner those walls come down or are not there the quicker you’re gonna get to the good stuff, so we just dived right in.” She added that the Up in the Air actor is the perfect person for dating advice because he “held out for the right one” and is “someone who always wants the best for people.” “I think he sees sort of bad behavior or negligent behavior or, like, cuckoo behavior and goes, ‘No, no,’ but he’s also the guy that is playing pranks, having the most fun,” she gushed. “[He] is totally devious and delicious, so he sort of embodies someone who is on the right life path like a very sage human being he always has been. He knows good from bad and right from wrong and yet he’s not lacking in any fun or mischief. He’s the most potent combination.”
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Barrymore revealed during an October 2023 episode of her talk show that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance inspired her to be open to dating. Barrymore explained that seeing Swift in the Kansas City Chiefs’ VIP box with Kelce’s family was an “aha” moment for her after seven years of being single.
“There was something so normal about it, and obviously Taylor Swift is everything but normal, but [it made me think], ‘I’m a female, I’m going to go out on a date with a male, I’m not going to overthink this, I am not going to be the dark horse and be secretive and weird about it,’” Barrymore explained. “Like, she just went out on a date, and it made me think I could just go out on a date.”
She continued: “This was evidence of not being affected by what other people think or having herself stop herself. It was so calm, confident and normal that it just made me think I should do this too. And I thank her for that.”
Swift and Kelce were first linked in summer 2023 after Kelce revealed he tried and failed to give the singer a friendship bracelet at one of her concerts. Swift attended her first Chiefs game that fall and has since become a staple at Kelce’s games.
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In January 2024, Barrymore shared one of her dating app fails after being catfished by a suitor. After a guy claimed he was “the quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams,” Barrymore got excited to tell him about attending the team’s first practice game.
Barrymore explained during her talk show that she was “frustrated being a girl from Los Angeles who loves football” when L.A. didn’t have any teams. So, when L.A. got two teams, she was at one of the very first games.
After introducing herself, Barrymore learned “he was not the quarterback for the L.A. Rams. He’s a musician that thought he was being cute.” The actress noted she “wasn’t trying to, like, land a football player” but was just excited to get to know him.
“The guy was like, ‘Hey Drewski.’ And I was like, ‘I hate you. You pithy, deceiving, playful [man],’” Barrymore said, noting she was left feeling “stupid” and “so dumb.”
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