Drew Barrymore might finally be ready to let her daughters follow in her footsteps.
On this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the actress became emotional as she told Lin-Manuel Miranda, Nick Kroll, and Andrew Rannells — the stars of Broadway’s All In: Comedy About Love — that she was debating sending her eldest daughter, Olive, to theater camp.
“I drove to the play last night and I was very worried because I have my daughter Olive and she’s 12. And I was thinking about sending her to theater camp this summer, ” Barrymore explained. “We worry so much about the decisions we’re gonna make for our kids as if every single one will have an impact that we don’t know what will come out of that decision.”
However, the talk show host started to change her tune when she remembered her family’s legacy in the industry.
“I was driving through the Theater District and I’m like, ‘There’s a Barrymore Theatre here. Come on. If this isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is. Why don’t I try theater camp?’” she said.
Watching her guests’ play only made the decision more clear to Barrymore.
“You start with this story about these two pirates who are gonna end up raising a little girl,” she said. “And it’s really about no matter who you are or what your background is or your baggage or your history or if you’re a pirate — but the writing and the performing was so beautiful and it was the sign in the universe I’ve been looking for, which is, ‘We just don’t know what’s going to happen but we try our best going into it.’”
Barrymore previously told People magazine that she initially shut down the idea of allowing her children to break into the Hollywood industry when she was a new mom.
“When I first had kids, I remember people asking me like, ‘Well, would you want your kids to go into the business?’ And it always gave me such a sad feeling, as if this business was so toxic, like ew,” she said in the April 2024 interview. “And I just thought, that’s not how I feel about this business at all. It has given me every opportunity under the sun and I couldn’t appreciate my life more.”
While Barrymore said she would “support” her kids if they wanted to start acting, she was adamant about waiting until they were older.
“What number is that? I don’t know, but it’s not 13 and it’s probably not 14,” she said. “It’s up there, but your kid will present themselves in a way where you’ve got to listen to them and support them and trust them. I don’t know what number that is, but it’s probably north of 14, 15!”
The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.