HFPA Regrets “Distress” Caused To Drew Barrymore By Bizarre Magazine Profile

Greg Evans
Updated

No, Drew Barrymore has not “decided to temporary take an unlimited vacation to play her most crucial role as a mother,” whatever that means. And unless the author and editors of a deeply strange celebrity profile have proof they’re not sharing, they would have no basis to claim the actress is “unstable in her relationships.”

An inflight-magazine profile of Barrymore under the byline of former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Dr. Aida Takla-O’Reilly has drawn such ridicule after going viral that the HFPA has stepped forward to try to explain what went wrong and how.

“We are aware that an article under the byline of our member Dr. Aida Takla-O’Reilly regarding Drew Barrymore, published in EgyptAir’s Horus magazine, has come into question,” HFPA says in an official statement. “Ms. Barrymore has been interviewed by HFPA members many times and we always appreciate her willingness to speak to us. As an organization comprised of journalists, the HFPA expects its members to uphold the highest degree of integrity in their journalistic activities. Based on our preliminary investigation, we understand that parts of the article in question were not written by Dr. Takla-O’Reilly and that other portions of the article may have come from other sources. We regret any distress caused to Ms. Barrymore by this article.”

The Horus article, with mistakes of grammar and fact, went viral earlier this week because of its unintentional humor and seeming lost-in-translation style. “Despite being unstable in her relationships most of her life, despite the several unsuccessful marriages and despite the busy life of stardom that dominated her life for several years; the beautiful American Hollywood actress Drew Barrymore has recently decided to temporary take an unlimited vacation to play her most crucial role as a mother,” wrote Takla-O’Reilly.

The article quotes Barrymore as saying, “I cannot deny that women made a great achievement over the past century, there is significant progress recorded by people who study women status throughout history.”

In a trio of tweets that did nothing to further her defense, the author attempted to explain the situation (misspelling the actress’ name along the way). Read on:

As a member of the HFPA since 1956, I have been a correspondent for many publications for decades. I interviewed celebrities published in Egypt Air’s official magazine; Horus, as well as Nisfdunia magazine, which is one of the publications of Al Ahram. It is noted that the previously mentioned publications are authorized to edit the final version of the interviews, according to adjustments required by the magazines in regards to size of the article without altering the core of the content. This doesn’t negate the fact that the interview with Drew Barrimoor which took place in New York is genuine &far from fake. As far as Drew we interviewed her several times I saw her grow up before my eyes she is charming and talented.

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