Drew Barrymore Wants to Age Naturally, but She Will ‘Throw Down for a Face Cream’

To know Drew Barrymore is to love her. And that’s not hyperbole.

The Hollywood stalwart, who broke out in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982, has weathered her share of breakups, hookups, makeovers, makeunders, and now, at 41, has taken to social media to publicly embrace what her life holds. She’s co-parenting daughters Olive Barrymore Kopelman, 4, and Frankie Barrymore Kopelman, 2, with their dad, her ex-husband Will Kopelman. She’s the head of Flower Beauty, has her own line of Barrymore wines (the pinot grigio is one that she drinks on ice, oenophiles be damned) and co-founded Flower Films with her friend Nancy Juvonen.

As Barrymore tells Yahoo Style: “I’m just a 42-year-old mom in my sweatpants.”

But not quite. First, she’s not technically 42 until Feb. 22.

And second, she’s also a working actor. On her new Netflix series, Santa Clarita Diet, Barrymore plays a chipper suburban real estate agent who, while showing a house, starts projectile vomiting. And then, inexplicably, she morphs into a human-flesh-eating gourmand whose condition defies any sane or rational explanation. She grinds up against a neighbor, buys a car, and can’t be blandly polite. “I’m just not sure holding back is my thing anymore,” her character says on the show.

When watching the show, Barrymore says she cringes a bit at seeing her wrinkles up there, in high definition. But so be it: She has no plans to freeze her face or erase any laugh lines.

“For myself, personally, I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to say never. Never decree never in public. That’s stupid and annoying. I don’t know who I will be in 20 years. I will say for the near and far future, I am not going to go there. I want to see what happens naturally. I don’t want to get stuck in a spiral of trying to fix it,” she says.

Given that she runs a beauty company, Barrymore is in tune with products. She can get ready in two minutes — and that includes applying concealer, as well as lip and cheek tint. But that’s pretty much as far as she’ll go.

“A little microdermabrasion after a long summer out in the sun — that’s it. I want to do surface s***. I want to keep it real. I want to age naturally. I love products. I live for every eye cream and moisturizer. I don’t drive fancy cars or wear designer labels, but I will throw down for a face cream,” she says.

The Santa Clarita role, she says, came at just the right time, when her marriage was breaking up, and the character felt so different that it “got me out of retirement. I didn’t want to work. I haven’t been working. I’ve been doing other companies and being more of a stay-at-home mom. When I read this, I was in a dark place in my life and it cheered me up. I don’t want comedy that is vacant. I want things that are steeped in humanity. Real-world problems that take place in the house — that makes sense to me.”

Her character gets ferociously hangry when she’s not fed. Barrymore can relate. Except when it comes to the following: “Truffles and goat cheese. Those are my kryptonite. Everyone loves both. I would sooner eat glass. I can’t do it.”

In real life, Barrymore cooks three-course meals for her daughters, and tries to eat clean. She sticks to a mostly fish and vegetable diet, and is gluten- and dairy-free. Much of the time. And if you think she looks different on her show, here’s why.

“I lost 20 pounds during the course of the show. If you only ate human flesh, aka protein, you would thin out. It’s very empowering. The transition is very subtle. I didn’t want anything gimmicky,” she says.

Barrymore remains close to her sister-in-law, the singularly cool and funny Jill Kargman. And she has a cadre of close girlfriends with whom she hikes and exercises and whose trips and exploits she documents on Instagram.

“I was the anti-workout girl. You turn 40. You have two kids. And oh, wow. I realized that I have to do something. It’s almost more of a mental game. I am not looking to be bikini-ready. I want to be able to pick up my kids without breaking my back,” she says.

Related:
Leslie Mann Reveals Robert De Niro’s Trick for Taking Great Pictures
Girls Style Throwback: Lena, Allison, Jemima, and Zosia Then and Now
Proud Feminist Padma Lakshmi on Taking Her Daughter to the Women’s March

Let’s keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.