Drew Barrymore Just Did Something Amazing for This Teenage Firefighter

Drew Barrymore has been determined to bring joy to people in the midst of the global pandemic with her daytime talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, in her own charming, hippie way, and one of her latest recipients is a teenage firefighter from Texas. Caitlin Thrash is a high school senior and cheerleader by day and a volunteer firefighter by night, and Barrymore decided to use her fairy godmother powers for good and give the teenager a makeover ahead of her prom because everyone loves a “makeover montage,” complete with a gown, tiara, and hairdo.

After the transformation, Barrymore could barely contain her appreciation of Thrash. “I don’t know why, but I feel so proud of you,” she gushed. “Because, you know, we all wanna be strong women who do something wonderful in the world, and that’s what you’re doing.”

The Drew Barrymore Show was recently renewed for a second season, a bit of a miracle for a show that began during such a seismic cultural experience. “We launched this show in a pandemic, which made for a crazy, wonderful journey I never expected,” Barrymore explained. “This is my dream job, and I feel so lucky to get to do this for another year. I am so grateful to CBS Media Ventures and all our station partners for believing in us.”

Barrymore explained to Collider why she was drawn to being a talk show host in the first place. “I have a lot of different interests,” Barrymore said. “It’s why I really loved directing because I could go to work and think about the music I loved, casting, production design, editing, writing, art, literature, travel, wonderment, imagination, comedy, chemistry, romance. I could put it all into this one job. That’s exactly what a talk show has the opportunity to do. The one thing that’s different about movies is that you’re telling a story.”

“I will never know what it’s like to be in a concert connecting with an audience and we’re not even gonna have an audience here,” she continued. “I’m with the crew, which I love. I’m loving the way that things are going because they have to be that way. We’re making the most of it and really enjoying it and not making compromises. We’re trying to launch with a show that we would launch with regardless, as far as what we see fit for this moment. It’s about connecting with people, and that’s been such a big part of my life since I was seven years old. That’s probably a better training ground to do a talk show than anything I’ve ever done in my work life.”