On Tuesday, Drew Barrymore gave a virtual interview on The TODAY Show, admitting that her self-isolation has been tearful every day. The actress talked about adjusting to life amid the coronavirus pandemic, including home-schooling her own children. Barrymore told host Savannah Guthrie she has “cried every day” through the ordeal.
Barrymore has two young daughters — 7-year-old Olive and 5-year-old Frankie. She talked about the difficulty in parenting through the COVID-19 outbreak, saying that she did her best to be strong for them. However, she admitted that she started to lose steam when it was time to start home-schooling: “I don’t know if there are good days and bad days. I think there are good hours and bad hours… I cried every day, all day long.”
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“It was like every church and state. It was the messiest plate I’ve ever held in my life to be the teacher, the parent, the disciplinarian, the caretaker,” Barrymore went on. “I didn’t think I needed to respect and appreciate teachers any more than I did. Then you start to get some systems and you see people on social media making lists and you’re like, Aaarghh!’ You find your way. You’re resilient.”
Barrymore acknowledged that, in spite of the difficulty, she is in a better position than many people, with the time and resources to care for her family appropriately. Still, she admitted that it is easy to slip into despair, and “it’s a choice to choose happiness in every moment.”
While just about every Hollywood project has shut down production due to the virus, Barrymore said that she is still working through her company, Flower Beauty. She described a project called Beauty United, where she and more than a dozen other brands are teaming up to raise funds for coronavirus relief. So far, they have gathered over $6 million.
“I’m one in a sea of people that’s supporting this,” Barrymore said. “The thing that I take away from this as well is, this is a moment in time where everyone is putting their separate companies [aside] and going into alignment.”
Barrymore said that the ultimate goal of Beauty United is to reach $10 million in donations. She also hopes to help promote the kind of unity and solidarity she says she is already seeing in other aspects of life.
“I see [Jimmy] Kimmel, [Stephen] Colbert and [Jimmy] Fallon hosting a show together. I see every beauty company coming together,” she said. “I see a sea of change where network lines and company lines are fading away and this common goal is bringing everyone together.”
