Drew Barrymore: The Dysfunctional Waltons
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That's 15% off at SaatchiArt.com. S-A-A-T-C-H-I-Art.com. Ever wish your favorite TV show had twice as many episodes? Everyone knows that feeling, and so does Discover. Everyone wants more of their favorites. That's why Discover doubles another favorite thing, cash back.

That's right. Discover automatically doubles the cash back earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with Cash Back Match. Now that's a real crowd pleaser. Everyone knows how it ends. Double the cash back. See terms at discover.com slash credit card. I remember I had chicken pox and all of the sudden it was, we have someone who wants to say like, get better. And it was you. Yeah.

Hey, everybody. It is literally. Thank you as always for listening. Drew Barrymore. I mean, what a life, what a career. I still think her performance in E.T. is it is the greatest child actor performance. And I shouldn't even say child actors, actor performance. She's, you know, lived her life in the headlines.

And now has a whole new chapter with her talk show, the Drew Barrymore show. And she's just an interesting, sweet, maybe one of the sweetest, most genuine people that you'll ever know. And I think you'll love finding out how long we've known each other, how we first met and what the auspices were, only in Hollywood. So let's get cracking with Drew. ♪

I remember you coming to my, I think, 21st birthday. At the Lhasa Club. The Lhasa Club. And I remember that night, like, extremely vivid. First of all, the fact that you remember, oh my, when you said the Lhasa Club, I just had a visceral chemical reaction. And I'll give you two guesses what the chemicals were. That is unbelievable. Unbelievable.

I had my first slow dance that night by your dear friend, Emilio Estevez, who was as kind and sweet and unpatronizing and...

Cute and appropriate and adorable. And just like truly I had one of the best nights of my life. I still hold it so near and dear. It was a surprise party. They got me there by telling me that they had set up a date with Madonna.

And then when I got there and everybody said, surprise, I was just like, oh. Were you slightly disappointed? Oh, more than slightly. I was like, where's Madonna? But it worked out great. It was a fun night. Well, that was a smart hook. They knew they would get you there. Yeah. Well, that was probably about the only thing that would have worked in those days. I mean, I also remember a night at Helena's with you and your mom. And get this, my dad died.

And I have suspicions. That they ended up together? I have suspicions. I wouldn't doubt it. Neither would I. I kind of like the thought of it, I have to say. Literally, my mom was fun, is fun. Like, she was a good time gal. Yes. My sense is, as mothers go, that was, she was in her wheelhouse at Helena's.

She and I used to go to Helena's, I feel like, multiple times a week. You know how people hit the gym a few times a week? We hit Helena's a few times a week. And funny enough, I used to see Sean and Madonna there all the time, speaking of Madonna. That's right. That was the era. So in the Sean Penn-Madonna marriage era, Helena's nightclub was the best.

Most amazing. It really was an amazing nightclub. It really was. The groups, the level of people, the disparate, insane, high-end level of people that were there. Jack Nicholson was a fixture. Fixture. Fixture. He went to Helena's as many nights a week as me and my mom. And funny enough, I ended up like partying with him a lot because

years later at his house. It was never inappropriate. And we would just party and talk and hang out. And I love Jack, but I feel like I made friends with him at Helena's, which then matriculated into a decade later, us like partying at his house. I was just with a bunch of really hardcore movie fans and we were making lists of greatest actors, this and that and the other. And we all decided that

I think Jack might be the greatest actor who ever lived. Well, I'm going to steal that to play for my daughter, Frankie, because we just discovered she has the same birthday. Ooh. And she's eight, and so she was not brought up on a healthy Jack Nicholson diet. That's right. And I'm like, no, you don't understand. You share the birthday with probably one of the greatest living actors of all time. So now I'm going to play her this clip, and you will confirm that. Okay.

Totally confirmed. And then she'll watch Carnal Knowledge, Last Detail. Five Easy Pieces. Chinatown. Batman. A Few Good Men. And we haven't even cracked half that we're forgetting. I know. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Listeners, it's time for a Jack Nicholson film festival. I agree. He's the coolest. He's everything you want him to be. The other thing I remember is, and I saw a clip on your show the other day,

Or maybe it was an article I read on you the other day about where I know was it was they were reshowing that amazing piece that you did where you went back and revisited the place that you were as a teenager. Yep. Yeah. And I I used to I used to go there and talk to adolescents because I had just gotten sober.

during the time, I think that you, right around that whole era, because I know when you came out, you lived with Jan and David Crosby, who were, you know, my sort of my early sobriety mentors as well. Oh my God. You saying, you know, Van Nuys Psychiatric and like the ASAP program is- The ASAP, oh my God, the ASAP program. That's exactly what it was. Yes. Oh my gosh. That's like an alien coming down to this planet and being like, I understand you. Yeah.

That is so crazy. I mean, we parallel and our lives cross over in time and place and situation. And I wanted to go back there for the show for the sole purpose of saying, once again, can this be an invitation for us to embrace ourselves?

All of our pasts, all of our experiences carry these bags with not heaviness, but pride and a realistic lens. We grew up in an industry that definitely was...

pro-veneer and every time we can break it down. And I think in some ways people are feeling that about social media. You know, how do I function like a real person? How do I feel accepted? How do we just not be embarrassed by the things we've been through? Those things are our scars, our strengths, our humor, our badges.

And I just want this show to be a place where we can go right there at a moment's notice in the blink of an eye. And we don't have to set it up and we don't have to pay it off. It's just all part of the journey. It makes us who we are. I mean, and I think the most powerful part of it was when you did the litany of what the experience for you was, which was, to put it mildly, not easy, not fun. And yet you're like, and I needed every minute of it.

I did. I did. And raising kids now, you know, and I know that you and Cheryl are parents. I didn't know what boundaries were or, you know, I want to say I didn't know what structure was, but for me, work was structure. Right.

Like our jobs where you show up at this time, you show up very prepared. If you don't, it's going to be a negative domino effect on everybody. So you really learn that like team relay race vibe. I think some people, you know, maybe in our –

career or job descriptions might have taken license to think that they're set apart. That was not my experience. I was like, I'm in a relay race with a group of people and I can't screw this up for the greater good. It gave me accountability. It gave me everything I didn't have in my life. And so if anyone ever thought it was Hollywood's fault, I was very protective of

our industry and our job because that was not the problem for me. That was actually how I developed a work ethic, how I developed accountability and consistency. It's still a huge part of who I am. I'm infallibly responsible when it comes to work. And that is because of being in our job our whole life. It was...

everything in my personal life that didn't have structure or boundaries. All up in the clubs with my mom, I wouldn't change it for a thing. I had the best time. But when I became a parent, I knew there were so many things I didn't want to do, but it didn't mean I had the tools to know what it was I should do. And boy, I felt

Very intimidated. I'm not going to lie. It took me a lot of years to gain confidence as a parent. Did you... Are you... Because I feel I didn't have a childhood like yours on that level, but sort of, you know, it wasn't... Lots of divorces and craziness and this and that. And, you know, I look back at what...

My parents were doing with me at certain ages and compare it to my kids. And I'm like, what? I would never. Right. Do you have that? Do you? Well, I don't think you're taking your nine year old to a club till closing time. I mean, I won't even let my kids be on social media. They can look at it. I don't want them to be like the odd kids or, you know.

I don't want to deprive them to the point of rebellion. I'm like, you can watch it all you want. Like, you know, I trust you. I'll come monitor it. But I'm not going to be a hawk and drive you crazy, but I'm not going to put you on it. You can't open up an account. I'm not going to feature you on mine. I want you to be kids. I want you to be safe. I want you to be protected. I am so...

Yeah.

My first real job, I was 13. It was a Coke commercial that was made exclusively for the Super Bowl, the very first one. And then my first big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big job was one of the stars of a sitcom on ABC. And I just turned 15 when I did it. Were you... Because I...

You know, I was like a kid kid. Like I had to eventually go out and be like, okay, I want to change your mind about thinking I'm a kid. So I'm going to go and do these sort of roles later on in life to sort of switch the brain thought of like, oh, this is just a little kid. I'm like, I am...

developing in many different ways, puns intended. Let me switch your viewpoint of me. I was a kid, then you thought I was damaged goods, or that's what I seemed like. And now I'm here to present myself in a different way. What was it like growing up attractive and seen as

You know, we'd call it like a thirst trap nowadays or, you know, like... By the way, can I just say a thirst trap is so much better than the word hunk? I would so be down to be called a thirst trap. You are. I just saw the picture of you and your two sons. It was like triple thirst trap. Yeah.

And I don't mean that in a creepy way because when it comes to like your kids, I could not be more chaste. Again, due to my upbringing, when you see your mom like dancing with Rob Lowe's dad and thinking, yep, they probably, you know, it could have happened that night. You become that mother who like doesn't even date, you know, barely. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You put on like the nuns, you know, habit and live that line. But what was it like? Because I grew up,

When things shifted and changed for me, there was no attractive or sexual innuendo. That chapter came way later for me. What was it like growing up with like that? That, she says. You know, listen, the thing that was always weird for me, and I wrote about it in my first book, and the reason I mention it is not to plug the book, but...

It's a good book. I read it. I loved it. Stories I Only Tell My Friends. Love, love, love, love that book so much. Thank you. The reason I wrote about it because it's one of those things that it's hard to put into a sound bite, but I will try. And basically...

What I found uncomfortable about it was it's something else to have that kind of attention focused on you. You know, you're young and you're hormonal and you're a teenager. And also you're aware either consciously or unconsciously that there's something about it that doesn't feel right. And it took me years to figure out what it was for me. Like that kind of attention could have been anybody in my life.

position and is every five years, every 10 years, it's somebody else. And it's not like they're going, oh my God, your work is soda pop and the outsiders was transcendent. It has nothing to do with any of that. It's, it's kind of a, a thing that, that happens. It's like Poxitani Phil, the, the, the, the, the, who comes out of his hole every year and sees that it's winter. It's, it happens. It's going to happen. Girls are going to scream about somebody.

It just happened to be me that year or years. And yet you have sustained longevity. One of the things that I find so fascinating

Right.

At the show, I was like, I'm going to talk to Rob Lowe today, who I've known the majority of my life. I mean, literally since I was eight. So, yeah, I'm 47. So for almost 40 years. And you have never given off this self-aware attitude. This, I know I'm the shit. I, this...

This thing, there's never been an ounce of smugness. There's never been. I've always marveled at you, which I think just ironically ends up making it way worse. All of our crushes on you is the sweet kindness. Thank you. Thank you. Especially when you're like the way you just described it is that you are one person.

You are with other people. You're not making it about you. You're making it about them. There's a humility that you have always had, which I think not only contributes to your longevity, but

But that I've always loved about you, because if there was one thing that I always looked for in others, in our job, in our fields, I don't even like saying industry because it sounds bougie, is I liked people who seemed really level-headed, normal, respectful, and

somewhat emotionally rational, doesn't have to lack fun. Right, yeah. But people who just did not consider themselves different than others. And that was always what I got from you. And it just made me love you more. And that answer is a testament to what I know about you. Well, you're nice to say that. And I feel the same about you. And look, we all know there's a lot of folks in our business who, you know,

look at themselves in a very different way. And that's never been my...

And it's why most of my friends really aren't even really in the business other than, you know, we have a lot of mutual friends and all of our mutual friends who are in the business are like that. They're like as regular as they can possibly be considering the circumstances. Yeah, more behind the scenes. I've felt very uncomfortable with the pretty people or the crowd or the fabulous people. Like, I just...

Some of my friends work, you know, in our job field and yet they're like in hair and makeup or they're, you know, like editors or they work. I just, I don't have a ton of friends. I used to feel uncomfortable that one of my best friends was Cameron Diaz because I felt self-conscious bringing her up to people because I felt very embarrassed that they might think that,

I was dropping a name when she's just happens to be one of my very best friends, my sister, someone who I've been through everything in life with. And I am talking like the gnarly shit. Like pick me up off the floor, kick my ass, birth, death, life, divorce, marriage, everything. And, and it's like, I've always felt self-conscious that you might know her name, but she's just my friend. And I,

You are a testament to that, too. We have tons of mutual friends, but you have never been that scene-ster, and I have a very strange allergy to that. ♪

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Qualifying plan required. Wi-Fi were available on select U.S. airlines. Deposit and Hilton honors membership required for 15% discount terms and conditions apply. When I was in my 20s and, you know, drinking and drugging and being fabulous, you know, I did. I thought I liked the scene. I thought I did because I was getting loaded. So the minute I became my actual self, my authentic self, I realized that I actually don't. And so it's been, you know, 32 years. And but I do have that.

It's funny you say it. I have an aversion to anything that is hip, cool, and fabulous. I showed up at like a baby mommy and me group when I first had Olive, my first daughter, who's turning 10. And everyone at the mommy and me group was a somebody. And I left knowing I would never go back.

I was like, nope, I can't. I'm sorry. I went back to the...

gym class in a mini mall for the next four years. And not one person there did I know or recognize. And I was like, this is much more my speed. It's why I ended up moving out of LA when I was, you know, I'd just been sober, you know, three or four, I don't know, two or three, whatever it was, a few years, newly married to Cheryl. We were expecting our first baby. And

I was talking to somebody about like education in LA and what you do and what you did. And, and they were saying, Oh, preschools are, there's a thing. I mean, you better get in line for a preschool now. And I remember thinking that was like, that was my reaction, but it only got worse when they, when they said, but to get into the right preschools, really, you should talk to Mike Ovitz. And I remember thinking if I need to talk to one of my fucking agents about getting into a preschool, uh,

And I left, I literally left LA over it because I had a vision. I'm really good at seeing the road ahead. I really have, every once in a while I'll have like a snapshot. It doesn't happen all the time. But when it does, it's crystal clear and it always is right. And I had this vision of myself in LA coaching Little League, which I did eventually and loved it. In Santa Barbara though. The fantasy. But if I coached it in LA, I would be like,

There's the president of the studios kid. And there's this writer that I'm interested in his next script kid. And then there's my cousin. And there's like, I just want to be with you. I don't want that kind of pressure. Well, it also makes you feel like you're on, you know, like I don't want to talk shop. I don't want to.

I don't want to deal with that. I'm in my sweatpants and I just, I guess I've never really felt that comfortable in

With people, I sometimes chalk it down to this term, a mover and shaker. Yes. Like there's movers and shakers and they kind of got business and they got goals and they're going to make deals. And like there's an agenda there and like they're going to make it happen. And it's not wrong. Like movers and shakers get the job. Make the world go round in a way. Yeah. They get the job done. I sort of have an admiration. I'm not a schmoozer.

Um, I cannot live like that. And there's so much of our job that I want to be fully active.

invested in that when I'm in my downtime, I'm a lot about battery recharging and no bullshit. Totally. But it's so funny. I've always seen this counterpart of myself in you. We have been born and raised into this job. We've both been out there a long time. We're still going. And there just seems to be a lot of gratitude and...

level-headedness there. And yet we've all had ways and branches of the tree that we either fell down and broke our head on or figured out how we would get there and become these people, which is that truth, that invitation of life is not a straight line. I struggled to become the person I am. And you're right. I not only partied with a lot of people

peers that were in our job growing up, but there weren't also a lot of young people who had the same type of access, responsibility, paying the rent, knowing what it was like to live a very full life at a very young age. There was like an awesome shorthand that I think I really enjoyed and that made me feel comfortable. Yeah.

But then as I got older, my road totally went off in a different direction. And I was like, I don't need to be around people that I do the same thing with anymore. I'm growing up. I'm growing in a different direction. And I started to really want to figure out what real friendships were, not just party and fun friendships. Yeah.

Yeah. And now that you – it's funny. You have the same aversion I have for movers and shakers. But when you look at everything you're doing, I mean, you've got the podcast. You've got the show. You've got the line of – I mean, it's clothing. It's kitchenware. It's makeup. It's all of that stuff. I mean, when you think about it, it's like if that's not a mover and shaker, I don't know what is. I mean, you're killing it. And ironically, I was crying to my kid's dad, Will. Thank you.

I think it was two days ago on the phone and I was like, I don't know how I got here. At some point, I just kept going. I didn't shut things down and I don't know what I'm doing. Like, I really... It's amazing. Like, I was like...

It was a safe place. I felt vulnerable and I just kind of broke down. And it's so funny. I feel so sort of unplanned and messy and ill-prepared for all this in a certain way because I wasn't calculated about it. This wasn't the vision. There was no ambition there.

I, ugh, ambitious people definitely make me want to run for the hills. How did you, how did you decide, what was the genesis of you ending up doing your show, which is going into its third season, September 12th, the Drew Barrymore show? I, thank you to hear those words come out of your mouth is so surreal. Again, because they've known you since I was eight or nine years old. Um, I didn't ever know I would end up in a place like this. So when I had my kids, um,

And having done this our whole lives...

This job was always on the front burner because it was my life. It was my friendships. E.T. taught me that you could create a family if you didn't really have a family. It was me and my mom, very chaplain in the kids, single mom. She worked. I worked. She went and did Ron Howard's night shift in the evenings playing like hooker number 12 while I was doing E.T. during the day. Like we were buddies. We were not mother and daughter.

And E.T. taught me that you could have a family, but then thank God for Steven Spielberg sticking around because it also taught me that once again families can go away. So I kind of had to find like how do I keep relationships going? How do I retain relationships with people? I don't want to just disappear into the ether. And

I found a lot of my friends along the way and started a production company when I was 19, which was just a complete MacGuffin for a family. And Chris Miller, who I started it like is my brother and Nancy Giovanna is my sister. And they it's that's the facts today. I'm as close with them now as I was then. And that's going on 30 years. So and you guys made great stuff.

Oh, my God. Thank you. You did. It was so fun because, like, my phone wasn't ringing. No one was, you know, I was like, all right, I'll build a telephone and create opportunities and just find my own way. I put myself in some strange situations that, like, I was not a desirable work candidate and never because I was unprofessional, but...

I just, I just, I don't know. I just, I... Look, everybody goes, if you haven't gone through a period where you're cold, then you haven't had a long career. I mean, anybody can be, I mean, listen, James Dean died after four movies. Believe me, he would have had a cold period. I love you. Do you know what I'm saying? I mean, you name the person and I can tell you what their cold period was. Ironically, did Jack Nicholson ever have a cold period? That is an interesting...

I'd have to do a deep dive on that. He may... Well, he would say his cold period was kicking around the Roger Corman world and not, you know, being in those Roger Corman movies. Which we now hold in, like, cool school Quentin Tarantino regard. But no, they were crappy drive-in pieces of, you know... And...

You know, did Easy Rider as a fluke. But from the moment he became a star, he may not have. I know. But I'll bet you if you ask Jack. Yeah. By the way, we are going to. We're going to sidebar and ask him. Look, if you can get Jack, he would be the dream. Although you know what it's like to talk to Jack. It's a little non sequitur-y. Yep. Yep. But it will loop back. It just might be three hours. Yes.

When I had my kids, something shifted in me. Like all of a sudden, work wasn't the most important. Work was always my family, my lifeline, my joy. It's just been such a positive thing for me my whole life. But I just said to myself, I need to be willing to walk away

um and stop and raise these kids and it's like every maternal instinct in me took over so I really stopped working for several years and I did I did all those mommy and me and gyms and bottles and diapers and learned to take the temperature and weigh them and sleep train and

I just poured myself into my kids and everything fell on the back burner. And once you distance yourself so much from something and you really truly let go, I had a new perspective on it that I never did. It was like my magnet

that was so hard to pull apart and so needed and so loved was like I would put it together and it wasn't holding as strong. And that just kept happening more and more and more as the years went by. And then I was like, I don't know what to do with myself. It's not like I have a college degree. It's not like I...

know a ton of other skill sets. There's so many things you learn in our job. It's incredibly informative and educational. I didn't feel stupid and I didn't feel incapable, but I had focused my life a lot in the arts. And so what was I going to do with that? And I just didn't really know

where I was going to go for a long time. And so I wrote a book. I started a beauty brand. I realized I was in love with interior design and that I was a homemaker. And that was about all I knew. And I just sort of kept kind of putting one foot in front of the other. I got divorced. I was devastated. I've never been so devastated in my life. I thought all the things I'd ever experienced were

Um, they just seem to pale so much in comparison to this death of a dream, which divorce really is. And how old are your kids when you got divorced? Two and three or three and four. Like my brother and I, my brother, I was four when my mom and dad divorced. Yeah. How did they function with each other when they separated? They didn't.

How did that affect you? It was awful. It was the most traumatic thing in my life. And it feels weird to even say that now because I feel like, I mean, please, people get divorced. You know, a lot of people get divorced. But at four, it was like, I remember it as it was yesterday. I realize now it was truly...

post-traumatic, like, trauma beyond trauma, post-traumatic stress trauma. But that's also because they fucking didn't handle it great at all. And didn't even, they didn't have the tools. They didn't know. You know, it was the era and they just didn't know. Because I look at people today who handle it differently and the families are still, are great. Like, you would never even know. ♪

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All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I'll never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel.

I mean, people made fun of conscious uncoupling, but meanwhile, you know what? It's like consciously uncoupling is how it should be done, as opposed to me in the hardware store finally taking my mom aside at four and going, is daddy ever going to come home? And her saying, oh, you know what? By the way, we're getting a divorce. So you know what that taught me?

Never, ever ask a question that might have an answer you don't like. Ever. And that is, it did not serve me well. How did you heal from that? Well, I was super sad for years and, you know, learned to, you know, to, you know, you bury, you learn to bury all that stuff, you know, and you learn to, you know, you know, soldier on and, you know, put a sunny face on it. And, um,

And it was only until I got sober and got in recovery that I did, you know, realized how much that really did affect me. And you can't really, all you can do is, is use it to better yourself and to better and have a better understanding of, of life. Cause you can't change it. It was what it was. Um, for me, the growth was not minimizing it. For me, the growth was like, no dude, you know what? You were four years old. It's that's fucked up. There's no blame.

on my mom or my dad. They were doing the best they could, but that doesn't change the fact that it fucked you up. I also appreciate that you didn't weaponize it. I think that's something that can happen. And the way you speak of it now is honest and self-aware, forgiving to you and your parents. And you've really given me an aha moment of, you're absolutely right.

It is actually one really positive thing of our current society is we do deal with divorce better than we ever have. Well, and I thought about it. I was going to... My thought...

10 minutes back in our conversation, we were talking about being on the phone with your ex-husband and having a vulnerable, open chat. That would not be in the realm of the universe of something that my parents would ever have done. And kids know that. Your kids are going to be great. They're like, they get it. They're like, you know. And a few hours after that, we were in the ocean together as a family with...

Poppy, their grandfather, like in the beach chair. And, you know, the cousins are around and Grammy and like it's, it's, I just said, let's be like the dysfunctional Waltons. Like let's be, you know, a modern day version of, I just, I love this family so much too. So when we finally decided to get divorced, I said,

This changes nothing. And if we can somehow find the where, the when, the how, and...

just move forward knowing we're not going to live together. But why does this mean separation? Why does this mean like awkwardness and coldness and distance? Why does it have to be that way? It doesn't actually. And we could prove to ourselves...

with the right attitude and togetherness that we can beat this thing and somehow create a new dream. And we did. And we faked it till we made it. We struggled through it. It wasn't easy at first. But we got to the other side. He's remarried now. His wife, our beautiful daughter's stepmother, Allie, like, it is amazing. And you really are right about that. And

I'm very happy and relieved and proud that we went through hell to get there, but we got there with such determination because we loved our kids more than we loved ourselves, and we got it right for them. But we do live in a world now that does enable people to handle things better. And I'm just—I did not look at the world that way. I felt—

You know, you feel so alone and you feel so isolated when you're going through hell. Collectively, we are teaching each other and different generations that you can stay together if things seemingly break apart. And we are functioning differently. And some people could look at that as, oh, people just give up too easy nowadays, right?

I think I know a lot of people who wished their parents had gotten divorced or, you know, if people stay stuck, I'm not sure what message that is to send to the kids. There are also different reasons for each and every snowflake of an individual family. There is no one way. There is no magic recipe. It is how it functions best for you and your little child.

So I just think that if you put your kids first, things will work out okay in the end. And...

I really hadn't thought of our society because it's a hard time right now in the world. We're all struggling to find so much good. There's a lot of negativity. There's, you know, things going backwards. There can be hopelessness. And I'm always like, no, I won't carry the umbrella of darkness. I won't stay stuck. I will not get depressed. Or if I get depressed, I'll get out of it, you know. Exactly. I just can't stay...

doubtful and dour about the world. And so I will always look for where the function is. And you're so right. This is a much more forgiving time to be a human, a parent, in a marriage or a divorce. You're not going to be so judged. You're not going to be such an alien.

Never thought of it that way. You just break apart. You just get so lost in your own stuff. I'm glad we live in that world. Thank you for pointing that out. If you write another book, it should be My Many Families because the reoccurring theme for you just in this conversation and clearly in your life is like your search for family and creating all of the different families that you've created.

starting with, you know, E.T. to, I'm sure, the people that make your show now. You know, it's... I'd love your... I'd love that book. Write that book, please, in all your spare time. I'm writing down the name of that, My Many Families. It's a good one, right? Well, it's so funny because the dedication in the last book or the book before last that I wrote is to my Flower Films family, the Copelmans, my girlfriends, the...

They are this book, right? This book, all talk show hosts have to write books every two years. It's, it's got to have that merch out there. Get that merch going. Get that merch. I never knew I would end up here. And this show is a total family. It's we come in every day. We dream stuff up. We make it happen.

I was ready to find something in my life that was more permanent. It's so wonderful. And I found a place where I could use all of my skill sets and education and do the one thing that my daughters provoked in me, which was it is time to be you now, not other people. It's time to be your kid's mom. Yeah.

And I'm excited because I still feel like the planter's peanut man. And I love variety and I love comedy. And I love all these different things. And our jobs are so wonderfully diverse. And I can put all of those coins in a piggy bank every day and break it on the floor and play, play, play. I'm so lucky. And I just feel lucky to still be.

be in this with you. You were always so kind to me when I was young. And you know, as someone young, you don't feel young when you're working. You feel a lot of weight on your shoulders. So when people don't belittle you and dismiss you as some kid, because you're not functioning as some kid, you are paying the bills. You are responsible for yourself. You have important demands that you want to meet. And

the people that treat you with like fun and respect and like, hey, we're all like eye level no matter what the age is. It just feels so good. And you always made me feel so good. You do today. You did then. I love you so much. And I just don't know how you stayed as good of a person and level headed with the level of age

maniac success and desirability you had and have had throughout your life. And you're like cozy, normal, rational, cool, wonderful dad, wonderful husband, great friend. It's like you're just the shining example of how to be. You are, you're, I'm blushing. Can you see? It's true. Red as a tomato on that baby's butt of a face. What in the hell?

She's America's sweetheart. Let's face it, right? I mean, I think we can all agree. Drew Barrymore is America's sweetheart. And if you listen to that podcast, I know you do. All right. Just one more thing before we end today's episode. Let's check the lowdown line. Hello. You've reached literally in our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551.

So have at it. Here's the beep. Hi, Rob. My name is Julie Simonton. I'm from Breckner's, Colorado, and I'm a huge fan. I've watched all your movies. I'm a big fan of Lone Star. And I just had a quick question of who do you think is...

your favorite person you've ever worked with, and who is the nicest actress or actor you've ever worked with. I'm embarrassed to say I've had your picture up from Tiger Beat when I was a kid, and I was just curious to see who your favorite person you've ever worked with was. Thank you so much. Bye. Oh, I love hearing that. That's so great. Tiger Beat, Bop, 16 Magazine. Those were the days. And I've been to your lovely town of Wreck-It-Rich.

I may have won a sled dog racing contest in Breckenridge in 1976. I lived in Montrose, Colorado. And we don't ask why I was sled dogging, really. I mean, sometimes I don't even believe my own stories. Nicest. Wow. That's so Jodie Foster springs to mind because not only is she one of the nicest people, but she's also one of the most talented people.

and acclaimed and accomplished. Um, if I had to pick one, I, I might go with Jody, but, but I, I've been lucky. A lot of, a lot of people, um, Chris Pratt's one of the nicest people I know. Gosh, I mean, you know, I have a, the, my theory is that the longer you're in the business and the more successful you become in the business, the more likely you are to be nice because, you know, it's a tough business. And if you're just a jerk, eventually the first failure you have is

People will use that as the excuse to run you out of town. Goodwill goes a long way in any business. And my business is no different. Like if there's a jump ball where like a movie comes out and it maybe doesn't do well or a TV series doesn't do well and they like you and you've been a good partner and you've been a decent person, they are likely to give you another shot if it makes sense. But if you're not, you're done. And I think that's one of the reasons why you see

you know, such overturn and very few people have multi-decade careers. So anyway, so that's that. But there are so many other people on the list that, but Jody popped into my mind. So I always think that go with your first instinct. Thank you for listening. Don't forget, next week we will be right here on Thursday, as always. Don't forget to download the rest of our season. Oh, and also remember to share the link of this podcast to your family group chat. Spread the word.

You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Rob Schulte, with help from associate producer Sarah Begar. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm. Our research is done by Alyssa Graw. The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Joanna Salatara for Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher. All of the music you hear is by Devin Bryant. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week on Literally with Rob Lowe.

This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.

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