Ditzy, unfiltered: why Drew Barrymore is Hollywood's great survivor | Drew Barrymore

A desk-style desk was once a key prop on a TV show, a standard part of the beloved kit of Johnny Carson and David Letterman, not to mention Britain's Jonathan Ross. Then the comfy couch took over and the guests started moving around, making room for each other. But today, under the auspices of CBS daytime show host Drew Barrymore, it's the humble carpet that takes center stage.

Barrymore, who is still best known internationally for her childhood role as a little girl in AND, enjoys interacting with his guests on a soft rug in the middle of his set at the Broadcast Center in New York. She has prostrated herself there more than once in front of her studio audience and prefers it to the pink satin armchairs of the show.

Last week, however, the 49-year-old found that the informal, unconventional side of her style was causing debate across America. Barrymore had pulled off a coup and booked the vice president, Kamala Harris, as his guest, and was pretty happy about it. Behind-the-scenes clips show her screaming as she incites a slightly ambushed Harris to recount the moment she learned she was elected, as if it were A juicy detail from a high school prom. Most notably, Barrymore had echoed Harris' admission that her family nickname is Momala. Sliding next to the veep on the couch and clasping her hands, the host implored her to be the country's Momala.

In the aftermath of the sickening interview, American media personality Meghan McCain criticized Barrymore for being intimate with such a distinguished guest. Not everything you do is a therapy session, and some of these things just aren't appropriate, McCain said of him. podcast, suggesting someone should say a word. Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly also weighed in on the episode, expressing her displeasure with how close the two were seated. More seriously, Barrymore has been accused by some of being complicit in nannying black women by projecting a stereotype onto Harris. Write in the New York TimesCharles M Blow argued that black women still spend their lives struggling against a society that insists on forcing them to adapt to broad generalizations, including the role of mother, the caretaker, the breast in which all can rest , the apron on which we have the right to cling. .

Barrymores' chatshow, which launched during Covid, was previously heavily criticized on Saturday Night Live, the popular sketch show that Barrymore herself hosted six times (once as a seven-year-old child star). Askit cast comedian Chloe Fineman as Barrymore sporting a big blouse and a lisping Valley girl voice.

And last year, Barrymore was the subject of a less playful sort of derision when she was forced to withdraw plans to air her chat show amid a Hollywood talent strike. The incident briefly made her a showbiz pariah, and the scab taint has yet to be completely dissipated, no matter how many on-set love-ins she staged.

From the first episode, Barrymore made a point of creating demonstrative connections with the guests. Last spring, the show made headlines when she shared her experiences with online trolling and hit it off with her guest, trans actor Dylan Mulvaney, whose TikTok series Childhood days has more than 10 million followers. The tap is always ready to spring, like in January of this year, when Barrymore reunited on the air with actor Dermot Mulroney, his co-star in bad girls. She also goes there regularly when it comes to her personal life, recently telling viewers how she shares her parenting concerns with her best friend Cameron Diaz and confessing that she once accidentally left a list of people with she had slept at the actor Danny's house. DeVito. He came on the show and I said to him, I left my sex list at your house, Barrymore said. A month ago, the host was back in the news as her social media followers applauded the humble normalcy of her small New York kitchen, complete with its basic stovetop. His other home in the Hamptons, however, is equipped on a larger scale.

Fans are hailing Barrymore as the daytime host of our time. Viewers, after all, have been through a lot lately, and it's not over yet. The plague, #MeToo, war, plague, Donald Trump series 1 and global warming all prove to be a real adventure. And the Marvel Universe franchise isn't a comfort to everyone. So Barrymore's warmth, with tears at hand, coupled with her ability to share confidences, makes her particularly suited to a time when everyone is sensitive and gossip drives the media.

Plus, Barrymore is entertainment royalty. Not only is she Sophia Loren's goddaughter and godmother to Kurt Cobain and Courtney Loves' child, but she was also born into two acting dynasties that date back two centuries: the Barrymores and the Drews. His grandfather, John Barrymore, and his siblings Lionel and Ethel, were stars of stage and screen. Ethel, who looked a bit like England's Ellen Terry, was hailed as the first lady of American theater, while the equally famous John starred alongside Greta Garbo in 1932's first Oscar-winning romantic comedy. big hotel. So while her father, John Drew Barrymore, was primarily a television star, his ancestry is rooted in the world of legitimate Broadway theater.

In Hollywood, according to screenwriter Jeremy Kay, she is widely considered well-meaning but prone to errors of judgment due, perhaps, to her inordinate empathy. His apparent thoughtlessness, he argues, must also be seen in light of his seriously troubled youth. She's a survivor, Kay says.

Born in Culver City, California, Barrymore was raised in West Hollywood and then Sherman Oaks by her mother, Jaid, an aspiring actress. In his 2015 memoir, Wild flowersBarrymore wrote about the impact of fame after her role in AND. Hard partying led to a stint in rehab, a suicide attempt and a stay in a mental health institute. A legal petition for emancipation allowed him to move into his own apartment at age 15. Perhaps the clearest recent sign of the strain of his youth came in an interview at singer Shania Twain's home for her show last year. The women explained how they were the breadwinners of their families growing up, with Barrymore saying she always felt responsible for others.

His films, including Never been kissed, Shout And Charlie's Angelswere part of a wave of entertainment aimed at teenagers which, as Observer described in 1999, were coming off Hollywood production lines at a speed not seen in 50 years. Moviegoers were treated to an invasion of freckled faces and sassy dialogue, and Barrymore led the charge.

A series of short-lived relationships and marriages punctuated the actors' 20s, with partners including Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson and MTV host Tom Green, his co-star in Charlie's Angels. In a 2003 interview, Barrymore came out as bisexual. In 2012, she was married to art consultant Will Kopelman, the father of her two daughters. They divorced in 2016.

Barrymore's decision to turn his back on drink and drugs was pivotal over the last decade in Barrymore's life. She spoke frankly and courageously about her desire to break the genetic chain of addiction that plagued her family, in order to set a better example for her daughters.

Like those pin-up stars of the turn of the last century, Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts, Barrymore managed to step away from acting for an extended period and construct a modified adult identity.

She found herself recovering from the shock of being the target of SNL liberating sketch: It freed me and stopped me from attacking myself so much. It opened doors in me that said: It's OK for you to be stupid. Maybe you won't get fired.

American chat shows have different DNA from their British cousins. There is no reserved, barbed style favored here. Big stars are either full of sophisticated late-night sarcasm or optimistic cheerleaders, like Oprah Winfrey.

Peter Kessler, former television producer, worked at Channel 4 Clive Anderson respondsas well as doing This is Johnny with Johnny Vaughan and produced the first series of the Graham Nortons show for the channel. (He also directed the beloved chat show parody Caroline Ahernes Mrs Merton Show for the BBC.) As a result, he knows what's under the hood of a talk show. The host's personality, he says, is the driving force.

Caroline idolized people like Michael Parkinson and Russell Harty, and saw herself as trying, to some extent, to follow in their footsteps, Kessler said this weekend, recalling that although Norton's early outings were designed to be comedic , it quickly became clear that Graham just loved meeting people and getting them to talk about their lives. Today, 25 years later, Graham is the purest chat show host we have without ever losing his comedic roots.

Kessler recalls comments offered by a Channel 4 executive after Norton's pilot episode that underlined the point: Could you make him less gay? I said that wouldn't be possible and that Graham was and would continue to be exactly as gay as he was.

It's an indication that, whatever Barrymore is told, her best plan is to be more of her authentic, emotional self rather than less.