Drew Barrymore on Life, Love & Turning 50: ‘I’m Not Winding Down, I’m Winding Up’

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For Drew Barrymore, home is where the heart is — and that makes her very happy.

“Do what it takes to make yourself happy because you deserve it,” advises the 50-year-old actress and talk show host. “You are the longest relationship you’ll ever have. So, if you don’t take care of yourself, if you don’t cherish yourself, then what are we even doing here? I want to be my own best friend. And if love, in any form, comes along and adds to that? Beautiful. But I refuse to believe that life starts or stops because of anyone else.”

After three failed marriages and years of substance abuse, Drew is living a carefree single life she never dreamed she’d have.

“If you had told me in my 20s, or even my 30s, that I would be so wildly happy just being in my own company, I would have laughed,” she says. “I was always chasing something: love, adventure, the next exciting thing. But somewhere along the way, I realized the company I was forever going to keep … was my own.”

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Drew says the turning point was when “I stopped looking at being alone as a waiting room. Like, I wasn’t alone because I was between relationships or because I hadn’t figured something out yet. I was alone because I genuinely enjoyed it. I was choosing it.”

While she goes out on dates, Drew also enjoys “a night in my pajamas, watching reruns of ‘The Golden Girls,’ instead of being out at some fancy event. And what’s funny is, the more I embraced me, the more I felt like the truest version of myself.”

For Drew, “50 is a really interesting age. Because it’s this beautiful blend of confidence, wisdom and still feeling like a total goofball who doesn’t have it all figured out — and maybe never will — and that’s OK! I’m not winding down, I’m winding up. I still want to dream big. I still want to throw myself into love and work and creativity.”

Finally, Drew says, “So here I am. Fifty. Feeling really good about it. And if you’re in the middle of your own shift — whether it’s at 30, 40, 60 — I just want to say: You’re allowed to love yourself right now. Not when you get that job. Not when you lose the weight. Not when you fall in love. Right now. You are already enough.”