- Drew Barrymore, 46, opened up about having her pregnancy news leaked to the media without her consent.
- The Drew Barrymore Show host said she felt “depressed” that her pregnancy didn't get to be a “private thing.”
- Barrymore is mom to 9-year-old Olive and 7-year-old Frankie.
Pregnancy announcements are so fun to plan—the options are endless for all of the exciting ways you can share the news that your family is expanding with relatives, friends, and loved ones. Unfortunately for Drew Barrymore, the star didn't get to reveal that she was expecting because the news was prematurely leaked to the press.
In a new segment on The Drew Barrymore Show, the actress opened up to author and political staffer Huma Abedin about her pregnancy media leak.
“I was walking out of my OB/GYN and I had just found out I was pregnant,” Barrymore recalled. “I walked out of her office and someone I work with, Chris Miller, got all these calls, ‘We know she’s pregnant. We're breaking the story.’”
Barrymore’s team tried to brush off the story as a rumor, but the press had taken photos of the Charlie’s Angels actress walking out of her OBGYN’s office while holding a sonogram.
“I was stupid enough to carry the sonogram in my hand out with me,” she said. When the tabloids ran the story announcing her pregnancy, Barrymore was crushed. “I was depressed or saddened, kind of, that I didn't get to have that be a private thing, a moment, or just to wrap my head around it,” she said.
Barrymore shares two daughters, Olive, 9, and Frankie, 7, with ex-husband Will Kopelman. The star previously opened up about wanting to keep her family life private on Dax Shepard's podcast Armchair Expert.
“I want them to be kids. And I don’t put my kids on social media, I'm like a f*cking Doberman about them,” she said. “They get in a bad mood when they realize they won’t be put on camera, but they know good god*mn well why, because I'm like, ‘I want you to be kids!’”
During the early stages of the pandemic, Barrymore felt called to distance herself from social media to focus on homeschooling her kids. “I don’t know if there are good days and bad days,” she told Today, admitting quarantine was hard. “I think there are good hours and bad hours, or hard challenging hours.”
“The minute I thought, ‘Oh, I'm three weeks in, I got this.’ I cried every day, all day long,” she continued. “It was like every church and state, it was the messiest plate I've ever held in my hand in my life—to be the teacher, the parent, the disciplinarian, the caretaker.”
Barrymore said that giving up social media and shifting her mindset helped her feel better. “I march in the army of optimism, and I’m looking for recruits, but I'm very real about it. I'm not some vapid hippie who’s like, ‘You just gotta me happy, man,’” she said. “It’s like, this is the way and the direction I will point my compass. Every day, it will be my North Star, and every day, it’s gonna tick around and I’m gonna have to push it harder.”
Currently an assistant editor at Prevention.com, Nicol is a Manhattan-based journalist who specializes in health, wellness, beauty, fashion, business, and lifestyle. Her work has appeared in Women’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Houston Chronicle, Business Insider, INSIDER, Everyday Health, and more. When Nicol isn't writing, she loves trying new workout classes, testing out the latest face mask, and traveling. Follow her on Instagram for the latest on health, wellness, and lifestyle.
