EXCLUSIVE: Drew Barrymore Wrote ‘a Love Letter’ to Cameron Diaz & Lucy Liu for Her Talk Show

Drew Barrymore had us at hello. No, really: Immediately upon starting a Zoom interview to talk about the launch of her new daytime talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, the mom of two, actress, and producer told us how much she loves SheKnows, and how she uses the site as inspiration for her show’s “Drew’s News” segments. “I follow you guys, and I’m always putting together these mood boards of inspiration,” she says, “and I have tons of stuff from you guys. I love you. Thank you for having me!”

Well, flattery will get you everywhere, Drew Barrymore! And the feeling is mutual — because who doesn’t love this multitasking mama who’s built an entire empire — from her production company, Flower Films, to her home and makeup lines — around her own particular brand of relatable goofiness, optimism, honesty, and can-do spirit?

It’s not really surprising, then, that while the rest of us were baking pandemic sourdough, Barrymore planned and launched her new show, plus a four-part, warts-and-all “making of” documentary. Leading up to the Sept. 14 premiere, SheKnows talked to the star about the process — and why she asked two of her best friends (that’d be Charlie’s Angels co-star Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu) to help her kick it off.

SheKnows: The Drew Barrymore Show is about inspiration and entertainment and celebrating life, which is amazing. How are you staying optimistic in these very challenging times, especially as a busy working mom?

Drew Barrymore: I think that optimism and happiness and all of [those], you know, wonderfully delicious, lofty notions is about how hard it is sometimes to get there. And that journey is just as interesting and important than trying to pretend we’re all good all the time. That is just not the way of the world. It’s not the everyday trajectory. So I think those are the best rewards if you can earn them. But sometimes it takes work. And the fact that it can be a choice, the power is in the word choice. So I like an intelligent, realistic optimism, but I can’t deny it, I don’t go for the umbrella of darkness. I just can’t stand under it. So I do choose [optimism] at the end of the day. But some days are harder than others, for sure.

SK: Speaking of challenges, you have two school-age daughters. How are you handling back-to-school season along with, oh, launching a daytime talk show?

DB: At the beginning, we were launching the show while I was doing homeschooling, and I ended up getting a set schedule that I would do the homeschooling during the day and then I would start the Zooms for the starting up of this in the afternoons and work until the evenings. I actually made a documentary [The Making of the Drew Barrymore Show] because this is such unprecedented times and circumstances. It was so humbling and so uncomfortable and so unique to try and just do anything in these times and ask to be reborn and start anew on every single aspect of life.

I made this personal story to talk about how and why and what and where and when. And sometimes in TV it’s like you come out and it’s all sort of, you know, polished. And ultimately, we wanted to make a polished television show. But the road to get there felt anything but. We were really learning along the way… and there was a great amount of humility and respect that went into all of this. I just wanted to tell the story of that, because to show up with hair and makeup and like, everything’s, you know, a certain way, just didn’t feel true to what the journey has been to get here.

SK: You’re kicking off the show with a Charlie’s Angels reunion with Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu. How did that come about — and how long has it been since you guys were all together?

DB: Well, we were all together when Lucy got her star last year. I took a red-eye from New York to be there for it. We’re all still friends, we’re all still in each other’s lives. We’ve experienced life, love, loss, death, birth. They really are my friends. And we’ve lived our lives alongside of each other and we’re all moms now and we got to do this professional thing that we all still are so excited by … and the fact that we got to do these two movies — lifelong friendships have been formed.

So I really wanted to write a love letter. And just, like, be myself. That all-important onus of the first guest… it was just floating like a satellite with ideas and possibilities. But when they came into my mind, it was like I just landed. And I started crying and I made them videos on one knee like it was a marriage proposal. They’re my good girlfriends, I didn’t need to do formalities, but it just felt really special for me to ask that of them.

SK: You and Lucy are a little bit ahead of Cameron on the parenting journey. Have you shared new-mom wisdom with her? Horror stories?

DB: I mean, we talk about everything. We’ve all kind of grown up together and yeah, now we get to be honest together. We talk about all of it. We’re really good friends who are at ease with each other. And we work hard in life at sort of trying to figure it out. My daughter, Frankie, Cameron’s her godmother. And, you know, whenever we have birthday parties, it’s like there’s Lucy’s son Rockwell. So we’re just happy that we’re all still close and connected. Life has changed, and I guess we’ve changed in some ways, but we’re all still together. And to celebrate and support each other the way we do, that seemed like the way to get started on this show, because we really have explored all themes and life together. And I want to explore all themes in life on this show.

Before you go, click here for the best movie & TV reboots coming soon.

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