The actress, producer and mom of two is headed to daytime -- and bringing plenty of her famous friends with her!
Drew Barrymore is ready to bring some new energy to daytime TV!
The actress, producer and mom of two is taking her talents to the talk show scene this fall with her new daily show, The Drew Barrymore Show, which launches on Monday, Sept. 14. Ahead of her big premiere, Barrymore gave ET a tour of the set and a look at what she hopes to bring to longtime fans and first-time viewers alike.
"This is the first job I have had where I have really gotten to utterly be myself," she marvels. "I would have never been right for this job until this moment."
"Timing really is everything in life. I think I am at probably the most settled place I have been at in my life. I am a mom, I can see things from a lot of different angles and I still have enough energy... I want to just look at everything from an honest perspective, a different perspective, a humorous perspective and a very real perspective in 2020," she adds.
Barrymore is no stranger to being on the other side of the interview desk -- having started her Hollywood career before she was even a year old. "At seven years old, I went on a world tour for E.T. and my whole life changed," she recalls. "I started talking with people, every day... That's the best training I have for this job, is human beings and my interactions with them."
And of course, she's got plenty of famous friends to bring along for the ride. On the show's premiere episode, fans will get to see Barrymore reunite with 50 First Dates co-star and longtime pal Adam Sandler, as well as her fellow Charlie's Angels, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu.
"There's a lot of anniversaries, but the Charlie's Angels one is very special for all of us involved," she says of the film celebrating 20 years this October. "We spent four years of our lives making those films, editing them, traveling the world to promote, training kung fu, and we have the longest-lasting friendships out of it. To know that we got to be a part of something so empowered-- and that film, we wanted to have women in it that were strong and capable and had a sense of humor."
It's Barrymore's goal to find the levity in life that she hopes to bring to her show every day, whether through fun interviews with her famous friends -- Reese Witherspoon, Billy Eichner, Jane Fonda, Gabrielle Union, Christian Siriano, Charlize Theron, Tyra Banks and Billy Porter will also be featured guests on her first week of shows -- SNL-style sketches, chats with local affiliates about the news and weather in their area, or cooking segments in her on-set kitchen.
"I did a cooking demo in here the other day, which was a true hot mess and I thought, perfect," Barrymore admits to ET with a laugh. "That's exactly what it looks like when I'm cooking.... It can look beautiful but it can be imperfect at the same time."
She says her goal is to share some nutritious and delicious cooking tips for real life. "Nobody wants to eat a chicken cutlet and broccoli. That is not happiness," she notes. "I want to find how we live our lives in a healthy but realistic and joyful way."
Barrymore also teased that she's found a fun way to feature her own home life with her daughters, 7-year-old Olive and 6-year-old Frankie, on the show, while still being "very protective of them." But, will her love life be a topic of conversation?
"I'm single and my cup runneth over with my kids, so it's really not on my brain," Barrymore admits. "It's like, kids, work, my friends, who are my original family, if I can get it, some time alone -- oh my god, I want it so badly -- and then would maybe be a relationship. So it's, like, fifth on the agenda."
"I have love. That's with my daughters. Everybody needs love," she says. "The thing that we want to tackle is relationships. And love comes in all these different forms, as do relationships, but no one doesn't want it, and everyone's pretty much trying to contend with it, so I want to talk about all of it."
Most of all, she just hopes to connect with viewers -- especially at a time when we're more isolated than ever. Special segments of the show will be devoted to giving back to deserving frontline workers and "sharing the mic" with social justice activists.
"I love everyone for their life's journey and their experience," Barrymore raves. "I want this show to try and fill the chasm and acknowledge all the things that we do that are alike... I just want to celebrate that we're just living, functioning, breathing beings trying to do our best and if we have differences, that's OK."
"Where are our similarities? I believe and I know they're there," she adds. "And I think it's so important these days, right now, that we have that connection."
The Drew Barrymore Show premieres Monday, Sept. 14. Check local listings for showtimes and more information.
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