Drew Barrymore hasn’t know Britney Spears for very long, but she could not say nicer things about the singer on The Tonight Show on Monday night (Sept. 12), where she spilled the beans about Brit’s wedding this summer to host Jimmy Fallon.
Fallon held up the now-iconic photo from the wedding of some “serious O.G. ladies,” in which Spears is surrounded by Paris Hilton, Madonna, Selena Gomez, Barrymore and Donatella Versace. Barrymore explained that she’s actually only known Spears for a year-and-a-half, when they began having some “secret exchanges.”
And while that may sound nefarious, Barrymore said it was exactly the opposite. “It was very connective and honest,” she said of the two child stars’ bond. “We’ve both been through a lot of things. We have some parallels that are unique in their circumstances,” she explained of their shared sense of growing up in the spotlight and struggling as child stars. “All the stuff that we’ve both gone through is something that I felt connected to her.”
Barrymore explained that the singer’s wedding to longtime love Sam Asghari “could not have been more intimate,” and that the famous pic represented some of the only people invited to the affair. “There’s only a few more,” she said. “It was intimate, it was fairy-tale-ish. It was very sweet.” There was no press at the wedding and Drew said it was exactly as Britney wanted it to be, down to the spontaneous photo op.
“I also thanked her for not having a sit-down dinner. God, do I hate sit-down dinners!” Barrymore exclaimed as Fallon wondered what she was going on about. “Guess what? We all got dressed up! We all wanna dance and we wanna hang out! Now I have to sit down? They always separate you, like, ‘We’re gonna force you into a new social endeavor.’ The person you came with that you want to hang out with is over there. Why did you do that?! And now let’s eat some bizarre food that you didn’t choose. And… and… and I hate it!”
Cutting out the middle man, Drew said right after the ceremony was the dance party and it was as fun as you’d imagine.
Just to be clear, though, as excitable and personable as she seems, Barrymore said she’s not one to reach out to people she doesn’t know just because they are fellow Hollywood stars. But the actress/talk show host felt a connection to Spears’ struggle to break free from a 13-year conservatorship; Barrymore was emancipated as a 14-year-old after splitting with her parents. “The humanity in what she was going through, trying to get her freedom back was something I felt compelled to reach out [about],” said Barrymore, 47, who struggled with substance abuse very early in life after shooting to childhood stardom in films such as E.T. and Firestarter. She said the two found a “deep connection” and became genuine friends and that led to the wedding invite.
Barrymore also stuck around to play a new game called “Focus Up,” talked about having her ex actor Justin Long on her daytime talk show for an emotional reunion and explained why she missed out on celebrating the 40th anniversary of E.T. with her kids and Steven Spielberg.
Watch Barrymore on The Tonight Show below.
