Drew Barrymore's Strange Antics Have Caught The Internet's Attention, For Better Or Worse

Barrymore’s still keeping one foot in the acting world, of course. After the cancelation of her Netflix zombie comedy Santa Clarita Diet, the star took top billing in 2020 movie The Stand In. But since 2020 the actress has become more renowned for her own eponymous talk show. 

And like fellow talk show queens Kelly Clarkson and Ellen DeGeneres, Barrymore’s colorful personality has produced several viral moments. Take the time she recreated the finale of 50 First Dates with guest Adam Sandler, for example. Or the reunion she staged with Charlie’s Angels cast-mates Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu.

The Drew Barrymore Show’s also uploaded several bloopers online, which proves that the series is just as much fun to make as it is to watch. And the host herself is often at the center of all the entertainment. Barrymore’s inability to take herself too seriously has even helped her become a sensation online as well.

Of course, Barrymore’s had plenty of time to hone her act. She made her screen debut in a dog food commercial before even reaching the age of one. Then, after showing up in 1980 sci-fi Altered States, the child star secured the role that’d launch her to worldwide fame: younger sister Gertie in Steven Spielberg’s E.T.

Barrymore had an early taste of talk show hosting when she presided over an episode of Saturday Night Live, becoming the youngest ever star to do so in the process. By this point the star had already developed a reputation as a wild child. She was a regular at Studio 54 during her teenage years and eventually ended up in rehab.

As you’d expect, Barrymore’s movie career suffered as a result. And even the roles she did bag threatened to typecast her. The star played bad girls in everything from Guncrazy and Poison Ivy to television film The Amy Fisher Story. Barrymore’s personal life took another turn, too, when she wed Jeremy Thomas, a bar proprietor. The actress was only 19 at the time and the marriage was over within a few months.

Barrymore continued to make headlines for her behavior more than her talent thanks to provocative cover shoots in Interview and Playboy magazines. And she even managed to shock funnyman David Letterman during a wild appearance on his late-night chat show. But — eventually — Barrymore appeared to calm down.

In 1995 Barrymore launched Flower Films, her own production company, and reminded everyone of her acting skills in Boys on the Side. A year later she graced the iconic opening scene of Scream and was courted by Woody Allen for his musical Everybody Says I Love You. But it was toward the turn of the millennium that Barrymore’s career truly got back on track.

Yes, in 1998 Barrymore charmed audiences worldwide with her turn in Adam Sandler nostalgia fest The Wedding Singer. She gave similarly pitch-perfect performances in Cinderella adaptation Ever After and high school comedy Never Been Kissed. And then in 2000 the star enjoyed blockbuster success as one third of the revamped Charlie’s Angels.

It was around this time that Barrymore became romantically involved with someone even more out there than herself: Tom Green. That’s right, after months of talk about an engagement to the MTV shock comedian, the pair officially confirmed they’d walked down the aisle in 2001. Once again, though, the divorce courts came calling later the same year.

Donnie Darko helped Barrymore to bounce back from her personal problems. The actress not only appeared in the cult hit, but her company also produced it. Barrymore then went on to appear alongside Sam Rockwell in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind before reuniting with her Charlie’s Angels co-stars for the 2003 sequel Full Throttle.

Another reunion occurred in 2004 when Barrymore once again teamed up with Sandler in 50 First Dates. The star would stay in the rom-com genre both as an actor and producer over the next few years thanks to movies such as Music and Lyrics, Fever Pitch, and He’s Just Not That Into You. And then in 2009 she added another string to her bow.

Yes, this was the year when Barrymore took the director’s chair for the first time with Whip It, a comedy drama about a roller-derby team. In 2011 she played Justin Long’s romantic interest in Going the Distance. This wasn’t much of a stretch for the actress, though. Because by this point the pair were also an on/off item in real life.

Barrymore continued to rack up the hits with the likes of Blended, Big Miracle, and Miss You Already. In 2017 she returned to the small screen to star as a realtor-turned-zombie in the Netflix original Santa Clarita Diet. The show lasted three seasons before being canceled — and prematurely, too, many fans would argue.

And just when you thought Barrymore couldn’t possibly have any more hidden talents up her sleeve, along came The World’s Best. It proved the star could cut it as a judge on the variety competition alongside country singer Faith Hill and drag queen RuPaul. By this point, of course, Barrymore had also become both a two-time mom and three-time divorcee.

Yes, Barrymore appeared to have found some degree of stability when she got hitched to Will Kopelman in 2012. Shortly afterwards, the pair became parents to first-born Olive. And then two years later they welcomed a second daughter, Frankie, into the world. Sadly, though, after four years of marriage Barrymore and Kopelman decided to go their separate ways.

But no matter what’s thrown at her, Barrymore always seems to keep on smiling. And in 2020 she again used her positive nature to good effect by fronting her very own syndicated talk show. A mixture of lifestyle pieces, human interest tales, and showbiz guests, The Drew Barrymore Show became an instant hit. The host’s personality undoubtedly held much of its appeal, of course.

Barrymore’s attracted more than 16 million Instagram followers, too, thanks to her winning personality. And in May 2022 the actress proved she can find the upbeat in almost anything with a video she uploaded to the social platform. So what was it that got Barrymore all excited? Well, surprisingly it was simply a downpour of rain.

Barrymore had obviously found herself outside when the heavens opened. In the video clip she’s sopping wet while standing in front of a rain-soaked window. But she appears to be very happy about the situation, imploring her followers: “If it’s raining anywhere you are, just run out in the rain. Don’t miss the opportunity.”

But it was a video of Barrymore actually frolicking in wet weather that made her go truly viral two months later. In the TikTok clip the Never Been Kissed star is seen in a condo building’s courtyard enjoying a rain shower. And once again Barrymore recommends that her followers do the same.

Chuckling to herself, a very happy Barrymore looks up to the sky and takes her glasses off before telling viewers, “Whenever you can, go out into the rain. Do not miss the opportunity!” The clip soon racked up an astonishing view count of ten million, with roughly a fifth of that number also pressing the like button. Many watchers took to the comments section as well to express how uplifting Barrymore’s venture into the rain was.

And that included several other famous faces, too. Leslie Jordan, who’s best-known for his supporting turn in hit sitcom Will and Grace, offered one such celebrity approval. He simply responded, “Love this.” Kristen Johnson of 3rd Rock from the Sun fame also enjoyed Barrymore’s antics, writing, “She’s the most full of joy, funny, darling person ever. As you can tell. This is really her.”

Of course, as with everything on social media, some people managed to put a negative spin on Barrymore enjoying one of life’s simple pleasures. Yes, the more dubious viewers put forward the theory that the actor was over-exaggerating in her reaction to the rain. But another famous face soon leapt to her defense.

That’s right: January Jones, whom many people will know best as Betty Draper from Mad Men, used good old science to demonstrate that Barrymore’s reaction was genuine. The actress explained, “I don’t think people understand how rarely it rains in Southern California. When we do get to experience actual precipitation it’s very emotional.”

And it wasn’t just Barrymore’s pals in the entertainment industry who shared the love. Many members of the public also posted positive comments about the video clip, including the individual who chose to write, “I want to love anything as much as Drew Barrymore loves everything. Perfection.”

Another admirer responded, “There are some people in this world who have infectious energy... Drew Barrymore is one of them. Her life could’ve continued as it was and been absolutely tragic. The fact that she’s such a bubbly, positive, happy, healthy person who takes joy in damn near everything is beautiful.”

Also referring to Barrymore’s troubled years, a different fan commented, “Watching her heal her inner child makes me so happy.” And then there was the follower who summed up in three words what pretty much everyone else was thinking. They wrote, “Protect Drew Barrymore.” So what does the actress herself make of all the hoo-hah about her unique rain dance?

Well, during a July 2022 chat with People magazine, Barrymore claimed she was simply living in the moment. The Scream star explained, “I’m such a hippie that when I see the rain, I just think I want to go out in it and have a little baptism from Mother Nature and be free and not worried for a second. I do worry and stress a lot.”

Barrymore added, “I’m also not a hippie sometimes and really a person who wants to have action and be a business person and get things done. And with that comes a tremendous amount of pressure and stress... Rain is a signal for me to let go and stop overthinking everything.”

Another detail that has got people talking is Barrymore’s friendship with one of Hollywood’s most powerful and beloved actresses: Cameron Diaz. The pair worked together in comedy-thriller Charlie’s Angels. And given their on-screen chemistry, it’s no surprise to learn that they’re close in real life. This is more than the kind of Hollywood “friendship” you so often hear about, though: these two have been “besties” for decades.

Of course, when you think about the two actresses together, you think Charlie’s Angels. The 2000 film was a huge success, and if you didn’t already know the stars, you’d never forget them after seeing it. Barrymore, Diaz, and co-star Lucy Liu lit the screen up in a girl-power sensation which did so well at the box office that a sequel followed in 2003.

The three leading ladies had a great time making the film, which is obvious to anyone who watches the movie. It’s notable for not making women into ersatz men, as Liu told newspaper The Morning Call at the time. She said, “Our movie isn’t like G.I. Jane, where they took the femininity away from the woman.” The fast-paced action in high heels caught fans’ imagination.

It wasn’t all smiles, though, as Liu clashed with male lead Bill Murray. Barrymore explained in a 2021 interview with the New York Post newspaper, “What really happened was Bill was just in a — you know, comedians can be a little dark sometimes — and he just came in a bad mood. What you have to know is how much Lucy stood up for herself and that was the great thing that came out of an unfortunate circumstance.”

The friendlier on-screen sparks between the women kindled a fire that has endured ever since. Barrymore and Diaz are best buddies. In fact, Barrymore will even share her bed with Diaz, proving that they’re not too old for a pyjama party. The two of them call each other “poo poo,” as Barrymore shared when she had Diaz as a guest on her talk show.

The pair posed together in 2021 for a snap on Instagram before Diaz appeared on her friend’s chat show The Drew Barrymore Show. And the fans went wild for it, with one saying, “The best friendship!” Another chipped in with, “I love that you are both aging gracefully and you look beautiful!” A third gushed, “So beautiful! Love you both!”

The pair aren’t seen together too often. There’s been no repeat of Charlie’s Angels since 2003, and despite both having had very busy careers, there haven’t been any films that they’ve starred in together. In fact, the only joint appearance was in a Zoë Bell YouTube short where each appeared for a few seconds. Even then, they didn’t share the screen.

For her part, Diaz had a less auspicious start to her life than Barrymore, though. Noted for her spirit of adventure as a child, she took off at 16 to see the world. A few years later she came back to California and turned her hand to modeling. An audition for The Mask proved successful, even though she’d never acted before, and she took the lead opposite Jim Carrey in 1994.

Given the success of The Mask, you might imagine Diaz would immediately have headed into big films. But she went for smaller productions to build her ability. It worked for her because she proved successful in My Best Friend’s Wedding and then hit the stratosphere with There’s Something About Mary. Naturally, it didn’t hurt that her looks put her on “Sexiest Woman” lists.

Diaz’s career went from strength to strength until 2014, when she quit. She told Kevin Hart on his chat show that she had wanted to focus on “other parts of [her],” which others had been handling for her. Her retirement has not lasted, though, with a return to acting planned in 2022.

Although their careers have taken differing if generally successful trajectories away from the camera, the pair are best friends. And they’ve been close for more than three decades. It may come as a surprise, though, that the two of them didn’t become buddies during Charlie’s Angels. Nope, their friendship goes back way further, as they related when cooking together on Instagram Live in 2021.

In fact, the pair met in a café. Talking to Katie Couric in 2013, Barrymore said, “You know, she was actually 16 and I was 14 when we became friends. I served her coffee and we had mutual friends, and we just knew each other from around town.” It must have been great coffee, because when Barrymore was casting for Charlie’s Angels — which she produced — she knew just whom she wanted to play alongside.

Barrymore repeated the story on Instagram Live, and she explained that the friendship was still going strong. She said, “She’s still my bestie and sistie — sistie? That’s a new word. That’s Cameron Diaz. We’re here to talk, and we have things to talk about!” And as it turns out, when it comes to Diaz, Barrymore genuinely does have plenty to say.

When Barrymore posted a snap of the two on Instagram, she added the caption, “Bestie hour with my bestie poo poo.” And she explained all when Diaz guested on her talk show. The host said, “It started out as classic boy humor, and it just evolved into a true term of endearment. And then it just stuck… we love it… it will never change.”

When Good Housekeeping magazine featured Barrymore on its cover in 2016 she revealed that Diaz would be useful if she ever found herself incarcerated. She said, “Not that any one of us are going to jail anytime soon. But 100 percent. She would, like, get in there and get you out.” And it turns out that springing people from jail — and acting — aren’t the end of Diaz’s talents.

Barrymore went on to explain what made Diaz such a great friend, saying, “If you’re looking for the best dinner-cooking partner and watching-TV-on-the-couch friend, call her. If someone is in a medical situation, call her! She’s the most loyal, fierce, fun, cozy friend. We have incredible honesty with each other and we work hard on our lives and our friendship.”

The feeling is mutual, with Diaz confirming that Barrymore is also there for her when needed. She explained that she had called on Barrymore when her marriage to Will Kopelman had ended. Diaz said, “Everybody pulls the wagons around, you know, our friends, whoever needs us at whatever point in time, even if it’s like something that the public doesn’t know about. Internally we’re all going like, ‘Okay, who needs us now?’”

The friendship is truly special. Barrymore confessed on the show that Diaz was the only person she’d allow to sleep in her bed. She said, “I don’t like co-sleeping with anyone: it’s a thing. I don’t know why, but it’s my thing. If it’s, like, a lover, then obviously that’s different, but no friends. I will sleep in a bathtub, I’ve slept on a pool table — like, you name it — but this one…oh my gosh. We’ve lived together for periods of time, been roommates. I’ve slept in a tent while my fever was breaking on a Chilean mountain in a thunderstorm in, like, Patagonia. I mean, yeah, we’ve been everywhere together.”

In 2019 Barrymore once more gushed about Diaz, telling People magazine that the There’s Something About Mary star was “my bestie, my sister.” The interview was all about her zombie show Santa Clarita Diet, so the magazine asked her whether she’d like to enter immortality with anyone with whom she’d starred. She nominated Diaz, saying, “Luckily, she’s in my life every day.”

People also asked Barrymore about the Instagram selfie, which seemed to be a portrait of friendship. The Donnie Darko star confirmed that it was. She said, “Her and I are like sisters and we see each other all the time and it was just sort of where we are today. In some ways just another day in our world, but I felt like sharing it. I love her.”

But is this just your typical Hollywood “friendship,” where actresses pretend to have a connection that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny? No, it seems it’s real. Barrymore told her Instagram fans, “Cameron and I tend to text each other while we’re getting ready for things. We send each other videos of ourselves from our closets of us getting dressed, dancing around and sharing information. That’s our form of communication.”

The two also share a mutual love of food. Barrymore said of Diaz, “She’s always been the chef: she’s the best cook ever. Some days we’d be living in a hotel and she’d teach me how to make pasta sauce. I know life with you in the kitchen.” Diaz agreed, adding, “Our kitchen, the kitchen is where we’ve always been: it’s where I always am. Food is my love language, it’s the main ingredient in everything that I do: love.”

And Barrymore confirmed to her followers that their friendship has grown over a lifetime’s experience. The two of them had literally been through everything together, good and bad. She said, “We’ve experienced birth, life, death, marriage, divorce — highs and lows, work, boyfriends, friends, travel — there is nothing we haven’t done together.” It’s no wonder that when Barrymore began her talk show, Diaz was her first guest.

When Diaz appeared, Barrymore shared more about their friendship. She said, “The thing that I love about our friendship is that we have been there in all the big and important moments, we’ve also been there in the small moments and the casual moments and the reason we are such good friends is because it’s real and we go through real stuff with each other. It’s not a Hollywood fairy tale.”

Diaz confirmed the truth of it, saying, “We have spent so many birthdays together. Usually we get to actually be together… We are not big gift-givers, we’re more about experience, so we always try to go someplace and do something with the girls and be together. Cook, eat, hang, and stay up all night and just have the best time.”

And Diaz left no doubt that the love was mutual. Reminding everyone that the show was on Barrymore’s birthday, she said, “Truly, one of the great joys of my life is our friendship. When I think about you, literally I will cry, because I just think you’re so special, and to celebrate you is the absolute — every year, it’s one of my favorite times of the year … to get to celebrate you.”

Barrymore reflected those good feelings right back at Diaz. She said, “You’ve made me a better person my whole life. And you’ve seen me through everything. Ugly, beautiful, loss, life, birth. The fact that you love me means more than anything because you know every little thing about me. I love you!” These are two Angels who are clearly making each other’s lives better for being in them.