Drew Barrymore Addresses Martha Stewart Interview Moment, Getting Close with Guests

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Wednesday night, The Drew Barrymore Show host addressed her interview with Stewart back in November when the author pushed Barrymore away, with many online calling the moment cringeworthy, uncomfortable, and awkward.

However, according to Barrymore, it was all in good fun.

"I think she was just teasing," Barrymore said, to which host Andy Cohen agreed. "Martha, actually, I've never been able to say this before with confidence, but I can now. I think Martha really does like me. And I think the internet just misunderstood the moment and ran with it."

"When I first was getting to know her, I was like, 'I don't think she likes me,'" she recalled, adding, "But I think I broke through … she doesn't dislike me."

At one point during Stewart and Barrymore's conversation on a November episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the latter -- who was already sitting close to the former -- further leaned into Stewart's space and asked her what makes her feel "soft and gooey."

Barrymore bit her finger with a flirty smile, to which Stewart asked, "What makes me soft and gooey? Soft and gooey treatment."

"When you're treated like a lady," Barrymore added, petting Stewart's back, before the TV personality seemingly playfully pushed the daytime talk show post away.

"You're the wrong gender," she joked, as Barrymore dramatically fell back on the couch.

Meanwhile, during her appearance on WWHL, Barrymore set the record straight on her now-known interview style, sharing why she gets into her guests' personal space on the couch when she interviews them.

According to the actress, it's just in her nature.

"I don't know. I can't actually control it," she admitted, before revealing that there was a focus group for The Drew Barrymore Show when the show premiered in 2020.

"I got focus-grouped when we launched and it was not good," she said. "It was awful."

Fellow WWHL guest and CBS Mornings host Nate Burleson brought up how Barrymore previously vowed that she planned on trying to maintain some more distance with her guests in the new year.

"How's that going?" Burleson asked, to which Barrymore replied, "Not good!"

However, Cohen and Burleson both reassured Barrymore that her interview style is a "thing" now, and that she shouldn't change it.

Meanwhile, Burleson asked Barrymore if she ever gives her talk show guests a good sniff when she gets up close and personal, to which Barrymore admitted that her biggest concern is her breath.

Cohen then asked if she's ever had a guest who had stinky breath, and had to subsequently pull away.

"Here's the best news! No one has had bad breath yet," she said. "And I am, like, pupil to pupil [with them]. And nobody's had bad breath."