Skip to main content

Actor Drew Barrymore has married and divorced three times, but she didn’t have children until her third marriage. And she said she idealized that union in hopes of giving her daughters the childhood she felt she missed out on as a young actor. But the loss of her dream family seemingly changed her outlook on dating once she found herself single again.

Barrymore confessed she doesn’t know how to date since having her daughters. But seeing their father happily remarried has helped her grow into the idea of taking more serious chances at a new romance.

Drew Barrymore in a gray sweatshirt during an interview on 'The Tonight Show'
Drew Barrymore | Todd Owyoung/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman divorced after 4 years of marriage

Barrymore married her third husband, Will Kopelman, in 2012 and they have two daughters, Olive and Frankie. According to People, Barrymore gushed over becoming a parent with him.

“Honestly, I don’t know how it is for other couples but really I like watching him be a father,” she said. “I know everyone says you’re supposed to put your coupledom first. But I really love it being all about the kids.”

She guessed she could have been “compensating for not having parents … or a childhood.”

They divorced in 2016, and Barrymore said she had to reevaluate her life in every way following the split, which she called her worst nightmare. Seemingly least of all her concerns was dating as a single mother when the time came.

Drew Barrymore doesn’t ‘know how to navigate’ dating anymore

In an interview with ET, Barrymore talked about her dating life as of 2022. She now co-parents with Kopelman and hosts The Drew Barrymore Show.

As Frankie and Olive have gotten older, and now that Kopelman is “happily” remarried, Barrymore said, “Times change and, you know, we bloom, and I am more open to [dating] now.”

She confessed she’s “a little rusty” and added, “I’ve never even approached dating, let alone a relationship as a single mom who has finally made an investment in myself.”

“I realized that a big part of my journey has been that I’m just for me,” she explained. “I’m a mom and I don’t know how to date with kids. It hasn’t been my priority and I don’t really know how to navigate it.” 

According to her, she’s always been about “relationships and [her] kids and everyone else.”

She said, “I don’t think I’ve ever entered a relationship this whole of a person as an individual entity.”

Drew Barrymore loves dating now but doesn’t do it often

Related

Drew Barrymore Knew ‘Not to Fall Prey’ to Hollywood Beauty Standards as a Child

Barrymore confessed to ET she “loves” dating now though she doesn’t do it “very often,” and most of the events have not gone very well. “I think I’m averaging, like, one or two dates a year,” she guessed, “which feels constant in a busy life.”

“Most of them have been not so great but to me those are like funny stories and I never want people to get cynical out there,” she shared. She gave a tidbit of advice for others, too. “You have to be hopeful,” she said, “and you have to do it for yourself.”