Drew Barrymore Opens Up About Stepping Back from Acting to Become the Parent She 'Dreamed to Be'

Drew Barrymore is getting real about stepping back from acting.

The TV host, 49, opened up in AARP The Magazine's February/March 2025 cover story about her decision to take a break from acting and focus on parenthood.

Barrymore has two daughters Olive, 11, and Frankie, 9, with ex-husband Will Kopelman.

She recalled being in her "early 40s, and not learning how to be my own healthy, independent individual, how to be the parent I dream to be" in her interview with AARP.

"Being other people doesn’t help me figure that out right now," she added. "And the long hours of doing films were hours I wouldn’t have with my kids. I wasn’t going to do that."

The host of The Drew Barrymore Show appeared in her first commercial when she was only 11 months old, and was cast in Steven Spielberg's E.T. at age 6.

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She continued to appear in several successful works, including Never Been Kissed, Charlie’s Angels, Scream, and 50 First Dates.

The Golden Globe winner also played the lead in the Netflix comedy series Santa Clarita Diet.

Speaking with PEOPLE in April 2024, Barrymore shared that she does not want her children to get into acting until they are older despite her love for the craft.

"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.  "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."

Barrymore went on to share that her kids ask her "all the time" to follow in her footsteps, but she points them to "school plays" and "theater camp" instead.

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"But being in the public eye, [no] until…’ And then they say, 'Well, what's the number?' And I always say, 'I know you want an answer, and I know the fact that I can't give you one that's so specific isn't satisfying, but it's going to be a feeling. It's going to be when I think you're ready,' " she said, adding that she wants to keep them out of the spotlight until they are "probably north of 14, 15."

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Barrymore gave an update on her potential return to screen in a 2023 interview with Los Angeles Times, in which she said acting did not feel "emotionally available to me right now."

"I just need to be myself. I struggle to be someone else," she said. "But I just can’t see acting right now. I know that sounds sad and dismissive, and I hate when people are like, 'I’m retiring,' or 'This is my goodbye.' I don’t want it to come off that way."

Barrymore went on to call being a mother "the role of my life."

Read the original article on People