drew barrymore andrew garfield controversy sex life© Photo: Getty Images

Drew Barrymore pens 'very personal story' about intimacy and relationships

The star got candid about her love life and intimacy

Beatriz Colon - New York
New York WriterNew York
October 16, 2022

Back in September, Drew Barrymore went viral yet again when, on The Drew Barrymore Show, she stated that being celibate for six months didn't seem like much. She said it in response to a report that detailed how Andrew Garfield gave up sex for six months for an acting role.

MORE: Drew Barrymore looks back on how much she has changed since her 'exhibitionist' era

Her comment was quickly reported as her "hating sex," and some saw it as a diss to Andrew. Shortly after, she took to Instagram to break her silence and to clear things up, apologizing to the actor if it seemed she had disrespected his acting methods.

However, she is speaking up about the controversy once more, detailing in a "very personal story" on her blog how she really felt about the issue, and how her approach to intimacy has changed since having her two daughters, Olive and Frankie.

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"Abstaining from sex for six months just didn't seem like that long to me because at my age and with my life experience, it just doesn't," she said.

Recalling how differently she viewed romantic relationships growing up, she said: "At nearly 48 I have very different feelings about intimacy than I did growing up," and she added: "I was looking for companionship! validation! excitement! pleasure! hedonism! fun! And adventures!!"

She then admitted: "After two kids and a separation from their father that has made me cautious, I have had the pleasure of shifting my focus when it comes to love for myself and my two daughters. I know that does not include a man nor has it for a while."

Drew quickly inspired fellow single moms

Detailing how she has worked on herself in therapy and how everything changed when her commitment to having a "nuclear family" unexpectedly ended after her 2016 divorce, she then revealed: "Since entering life as a single mom, I have not been able to have an intimate relationship," adding that she needed to "stay very celibate" after her split.

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Thinking of her daughters and how she hopes to raise them with different perspectives than of those with which she grew up, she said: "I'm also raising two daughters, so how we raise girls to be appropriate and empowered and to love themselves and to realize that we live in an age where the images and messages that they will see will also contradict what I have come to believe intimacy is!"

drew barrymore love life celibacy andrew garfield© Photo: Getty Images

Her comment was said on her 20 September show about Andrew's preparation to star in Martin Scorsese's Silence

She also wrote: "I am just in a completely different place in my life and maybe in the near future I will get into a relationship… but it simply hasn't been my priority. So I'm not a person who needs sex and has to go out there and engage with people on that level. I am someone who is deeply committed to fostering how young girls, my daughters, and myself as a woman, are supposed to function in this world!"

In the end, she maintained: "So for the record, I do not hate sex! I have just finally come to the epiphany that love and sex are simply not the same thing."

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