Drew Barrymore opens up about intimacy after a woman accused her of hating sex
Drew Barrymore is setting the record straight after a recent comment on her eponymous talk show gave some viewers the impression that she “hates sex.”
Last month Barrymore, 47, addressed actor Andrew Garfield’s claim that he gave up sex for six months ahead of playing a Jesuit priest for the 2016 film Silence. In response, the actress — a single mother who has been candid about dating dilemmas on the show — quipped, “What’s wrong with me that six months doesn’t seem like a very long time? I was like, ‘Yeah so?’”
But some took that off-handed remark about celibacy the wrong way, as Barrymore discovered when she was recently approached by a woman after wrapping up a workout. “You look just like Drew Barrymore except for you look like you have mental wellness and besides … she hates sex!” the woman told her.
After finally connecting the dots between that woman’s comment and what she said on her show last month, Barrymore felt moved to clarify how her view on intimacy has evolved over the years, from her wild upbringing as a child star to her current state as a single mom who shares two daughters with third husband Will Kopelman.
“At nearly 48 I have very different feelings about intimacy than I did growing up,” the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial star shared in new blog post, titled “Rebels Who Love,” on Sunday. “I did not have role model parents and I engaged with people in grown up ways since a tender age! I was looking for companionship! validation! excitement! pleasure! hedonism! fun! And adventures!! Now, because I can’t get in the time machine and change my history … [I] choose to look at it through a positive lens, which is that I lived! I lived a very rich full life.
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“However, 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. I know that does not include a man nor has it for a while,” Barrymore, who divorced Kopelman in 2016, continued, adding insight from her therapist that has helped her distinguish sex from love. “I’ve come to realize through working in therapy (with Barry), 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.”
The Never Been Kissed actress went on to explain how being a mother to 10-year-old Olive and 8-year-old Frankie has changed how she approaches relationships, both with herself and with others. Barrymore shared that “since entering life as a single mom, I have not been able to have an intimate relationship.”
“I have had the honor and a 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,” she continued. “I’ve been intimidated. I’ve been triumphant. I’ve been asked to be educated in…
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