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Drew Barrymore‘s return to daytime was a largely muted affair, with the host and actress sitting down with award-winning recording artist Shania Twain, but abstaining from any comment around her controversial return following the now-ended writers strike and amid the ongoing actors’ strike.
During the 30-minute premiere and first new episode of The Drew Barrymore Show since May, Barrymore — without her writers, who declined to return — launched straight into her sit down with Twain, telling viewers, “Alright everybody, welcome to season four. Let’s go girls.” The trip took Barrymore to Twain’s Vegas farm — halfway across the country from her New York City studio, where she had previously been met with pickets after announcing plans to bring back her WGA-covered daytime talk show just a few weeks before the Writers Guild and AMPTP reached an agreement.
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Sitting together on Twain’s couch, the duo chatted about the singer’s love of horses and the power of equine therapy; wanting to be more than one thing in her personal and creative life; Twain growing up quickly and parenting her siblings in her early 20s after both her parents died; fears around “what was on the other side” of her 15-year hiatus related to a previously undiagnosed Lyme disease.
They also discussed the musician pivoting to primarily songwriting after her medical diagnosis, Twain’s Vegas residency, and what motivated her new song, “Queen of Me. The Grammy-winner then took Barrymore out to ride horses. The conversation, which included an extensive riding lesson from Twain, spanned themes of growth, re-dos and “getting back in the saddle.”
Barrymore’s return comes two weeks after several former writers declined to return to the show following her initial Sept. 10 announcement to return amid the writers strike. While several other WGA-covered shows made similar plans last month despite the then-ongoing work stoppage, which ended on Sept. 26, Barrymore received some of the biggest backlash.
The actress and talk show host was met with picketers outside of her New York City studio amid efforts to resume production, and drew more ire after trying to defend her decision to return without the syndicated, CBS Media Ventures-produced and -distributed show’s striking writers in a Sept. 15 Instagram video statement.
After that latest wave of criticism, including a response from the WGA, on Sept. 17, Barry provided another update, stating that she would choose to delay the show’s return until the end of the writers strike. On Oct. 4, the talk show announced, yet again, that it would be returning — this time for Monday’s mid-October premiere, but without her
“I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team,” Barrymore wrote in an Instagram post. “We really tried to find our way forward, and I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon.”
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