Why Drew Barrymore Has No Plans to Return to Acting: 'I Don't Want to be on a Film Set'

Drew Barrymore has been a household name since before she could probably say household name. But now, at 46 years old, it may be that she's ready to hang it up.

The daytime talk show host was a guest with Andy Cohen on his "Radio Andy" show when he asked if she has more movies on the horizon. She most recently appeared in the 2020 comedy "The Stand In," and starred in the Netflix series, "Santa Clarita Diet."

"If I'm being honest, the answer is no," Barrymore told Cohen. "I don't want to be on a film set right now."

Barrymore conceded that her mind could change when she gets older. In fact, she's already gone back and forth once in her career, having previous stopped when her kids were first born. Barrymore has two daughters, Olive, 8, and Frankie, 6.

"It was a no-brainer to me to put making movies on a back burner so that I could be present and raise my kids myself," she told him. "I didn't want to be on a film set asking the nanny how the kids were."

That said, she did return to a television set, for Netflix's undead comedy, which she said came at "the perfect time" for her.

"I was so knee-deep into mothering my kids. I was like, I don't know who I am anymore," she said. "And if I can't remember that I'm an individual with a skill set, I might die."

The project came along during what Barrymore described as "a really difficult divorce," and she truly believes it saved her. "That show was the greatest thing that could have ever happened to me," she said.

"I just got to remember, like, 'You are a person with a history. You're not just a lost mother. You are, you know, a human individual, and you can go and get lost in something and find yourself again.'"

The experience taught her balance. "It reminded me to not lose the baby with the bathwater in that I don't want to be filming all the time because I want to raise my kids," she explained."

But at the same time, "It's like, you are this person. Don't ditch who you are for your kids. I think that's a recipe for disaster and parenting."

And so, it's certainly possible that she could find herself feeling that itch again as she gets older, something she readily admitted to Cohen.

For now, though, she's plenty busy being a mom, running a growing fashion empire and producing and hosting her daytime talk show, "The Drew Barrymore Show."