Drew Barrymore’s new daytime talk show has yet to premiere, but the Santa Clarita Diet star is already dropping interviews, including one with Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen. In the new episode of Barrymore’s “The Art of the Interview,” Barrymore apologized for drinking “too much” while on WWHL during a 2018 stop. Barrymore has often discussed her battles with substance abuse in the past and felt it as necessary to discuss her time on WWHL, even though Cohen did not think she needed to apologize.
“It was on your show, and I drank too much, and I have never forgiven myself, nor will I ever forgive myself,” Barrymore told Cohen, reports PEOPLE. “I’m an imperfect person, and I tout that, and I’ve had that liberty since I was a kid because it was all out there. And it was either boo hoo about it or say, ‘God, it’s sort of redeeming to not have to pretend to be perfect.’ But I really want to apologize to you because I really — I just, I will never let that happen again. I’m so sorry.”
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Cohen did not think Barrymore needed to be so hard on herself, since other WWHL guests have been “overserved” and he did not even have a “clear memory” of Barrymore’s WWHL appearance. “…You don’t need to apologize to me for being overserved on my show, that happens,” he said. “You’re in a great club.”
One reason why drinking on Cohen’s show might have stuck in Barrymore’s mind is that she has struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse. Barrymore began using drugs during her childhood. “It really is a recipe for disaster,” Barrymore told Norm Macdonald in 2018 about becoming famous at an early age. “But you know what’s exciting? I got my s— over with at, like, 14. Like, midlife crisis, institutionalized, blacklisted, no family, like, got it done, and then got into the cycle of being my own parent, figuring it out.” Barrymore later discussed her mother putting her in rehab and a mental institution during her teens due to her addictions and attempted suicides. Barrymore told Macdonald at the time that she does still drink and is not a “militant person,” but cocaine “literally seems like my worst nightmare right now.”
Barrymore is set to take on the next stage of her career as a daytime talk show host with The Drew Barrymore Show. The syndicated series is produced by CBS Television Distribution and is scheduled to debut on Sept. 14. She has already released several “The Art of the Interview” clips with Gayle King, Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, and other stars.
