What Happened to Drew Barrymore? Where She Is Now in 2026

Drew Barrymore was famous before she could read. As the wide-eyed little girl in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, she charmed the entire world at seven years old — and then lived one of the most public childhoods in Hollywood history, struggles and all. What makes her story remarkable isn’t that she stumbled; it’s how thoroughly she rebuilt. Today she’s a producer, entrepreneur, and one of daytime television’s most disarming hosts. Here’s where Drew Barrymore is in 2026.

01Profile

Full name

Drew Blythe Barrymore

Born

February 22, 1975 (51 years old)

Birthplace

Culver City, California, USA

Occupation

Actress, producer, talk-show host, entrepreneur

Best known for

"E.T." (1982), "The Wedding Singer" (1998), "Charlie's Angels" (2000), "The Drew Barrymore Show"

Family

Two daughters, Olive and Frankie, with ex-husband Will Kopelman

Barrymore was born into Hollywood royalty — a fourth-generation member of the legendary Barrymore acting dynasty. That legacy brought her early stardom and, for a time, an unusually rough road. Her recovery from it is a story she’s told, in her own words, more openly than almost any star of her era.

02The Rise

The child star of a generation

In 1982, a seven-year-old Barrymore played Gertie, Elliott’s little sister, in Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — the highest-grossing film of its time and a cultural touchstone. Her scenes, especially her wide-eyed terror at first meeting E.T. and her tender goodbye, made her instantly beloved. She followed it with films like Firestarter and Cat’s Eye, one of the most sought-after child actors in the business.

A dynasty behind her

Barrymore carried a storied name into every role. Her grandfather John Barrymore was one of the great stage and screen actors of the early twentieth century, and the family’s theatrical roots stretched back generations to a celebrated lineage of stage performers. That heritage lent her career a sense of destiny — but it also meant she grew up surrounded by the pressures and excesses of show business from her earliest years, with few of the ordinary guardrails most children have. The industry that adored her at seven offered little in the way of a normal childhood, and the consequences of that would define her teenage years.

03The Turning Point

Unlike many child stars whose struggles played out behind closed doors, Barrymore’s unfolded in headlines — and, crucially, she chose to write about them herself.

• 1980sAs a young girl, Barrymore is exposed to Hollywood nightlife extraordinarily early, leading to well-documented struggles with substances.
• 1990At 15, she publishes the memoir "Little Girl Lost," candidly recounting her early challenges and time in treatment.
• Early 1990sBecomes legally emancipated from her parents as a teenager and begins rebuilding her career and her life.
• 1995Co-founds the production company Flower Films, taking control of the projects she makes.
• 1998–2000A run of hits — "The Wedding Singer," "Never Been Kissed," and "Charlie's Angels" — cements her as a bankable adult star and producer.

What’s striking in hindsight is how early Barrymore took the wheel. By her mid-teens she had written frankly about her lowest points, and by her early twenties she was producing her own films. The comeback wasn’t luck; it was a young woman methodically building a foundation under herself.

04The Reinvention

Through Flower Films, Barrymore transformed from a former child star into a genuine Hollywood force. The company produced the blockbuster Charlie’s Angels franchise and beloved romantic comedies like Never Been Kissed and He’s Just Not That Into You, and it gave her the leverage to shape her own career rather than wait to be cast.

Then, in 2020, she pivoted again — this time to daytime television with The Drew Barrymore Show. It was a risk. Plenty of celebrity talk shows have flopped. But Barrymore’s particular gift — an unguarded, emotionally open warmth that can turn a routine interview into something genuinely moving — found a natural home in the format. She cries, she laughs too loud, she hugs her guests. Audiences responded to exactly the sincerity that a slicker host might have polished away.

“I’ve always felt like the underdog, and I think that’s why I root so hard for everyone else.” — Drew Barrymore, on the spirit of her talk show

The show hasn’t been without controversy. During the 2023 Hollywood writers’ strike, Barrymore drew criticism for briefly announcing her show would resume production before writers’ contracts were resolved; she quickly reversed course and paused the return, and the strike was later settled. It was a dated, isolated episode in an otherwise steady run — and the program’s continued success speaks for itself.

05What She Is Doing Now

Daytime’s most heartfelt host

The Drew Barrymore Show remains Barrymore’s central project, renewed for a sixth season carrying it through the 2025–2026 television season. The show has become a fixture of daytime TV, blending celebrity interviews, lifestyle segments, and the kind of emotionally candid conversations that have become her signature. After years of reinvention, hosting has arguably made her more present in the culture than at any point since her film heyday.

“This year is telling me it needs to have moonstone in it.” — Drew Barrymore, sharing a ring representing her and her two daughters on “The Drew Barrymore Show”

The entrepreneur

Off camera, Barrymore is a serious businesswoman. She built the affordable cosmetics line Flower Beauty, launched a wine label, Barrymore Wines, and continues to develop projects through Flower Films. Her ventures reflect the same accessible, unpretentious sensibility as her on-air persona — products and stories meant to feel warm and within reach rather than aspirational and distant.

A devoted mother

Above all, Barrymore describes herself as a hands-on parent to her two daughters, Olive and Frankie, whom she shares with ex-husband Will Kopelman. She has spoken often about wanting to give her girls the stable, grounded childhood she didn’t have — a theme that runs quietly through much of what she does now, from the show to the way she talks about her own past. She’s been candid, too, about co-parenting amicably after divorce and about keeping her daughters largely out of the public eye, a boundary that feels pointed coming from someone whose own childhood played out so completely in front of the cameras. For all her openness, that instinct to protect the people she loves is one of the clearest throughlines of who Barrymore has become.

06Summary

Drew Barrymore’s life is one of Hollywood’s great reinventions: a child star who told the truth about her hardest years and then built, piece by piece, a career and a family entirely on her own terms.

The little girl who said goodbye to E.T. grew up to become one of the most resilient — and most genuinely likable — figures in American entertainment. Drew Barrymore didn’t just survive her fame; she rewrote it into something entirely her own.