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Haven’t nailed down your Valentine’s and/or Galentine’s Day plans yet? Well, you could spend it by watching the first two episodes of Yellowjackets season three! Ok, I haven’t actually seen any of Yellowjackets (I’m a little scared!), but from all I’ve heard about it, it’s probably not the right vibe for the day of love. (Unless that’s your jam, in which case carry on!) To hype the premiere, the main cast — Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Tawny Cypress, and Lauren Ambrose — stopped by The Drew Barrymore Show this week. Which is how we learned that Drew Barrymore used to throw “500-person parties” back in the day?! I’m not even sure if the number of people in my contacts reaches 100! But Melanie and Christina were at those parties, and reminisced with Drew fondly:
Drew Barrymore knows how to throw a party. On this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the actress remembered hosting “500-person parties” back in the day.
The trip down memory lane came during a conversation with the cast of Yellowjackets, including Barrymore’s old friends Christina Ricci and Melanie Lynskey, who were the first to bring up her “fun parties.”
“I would throw these 500-person parties,” Barrymore said, to which Ricci added, “They were so fun. I don’t remember leaving your parties. But I definitely remember getting there and being there.”
Barrymore playfully said that was “all [she] could hope for,” while Lynskey remembered the “painting studio” Barrymore set up in her house for the gatherings.
“There were always like ping pong tables, or like quarters games. It was sort of like [an] artistic frat house,” Barrymore said. “It was at a time — I felt like everyone would come and it was all discretion and cool and good times.”
Lynskey and Barrymore’s friendship goes way back to the late 1990s, when they both starred in Ever After. In the Cinderella-inspired flick, Lynskey and Megan Dodds played Barrymore’s step-sisters.
The last time Lynskey appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show, she and Barrymore reminisced on their time filming the movie — including a topless photo Lynskey took of Dodds in a cornfield.
“I don’t know what I was thinking at the time. It was just kind of like, ‘Oh, this would be really groovy to do. Let’s go take topless photos in a cornfield,’” Dodds said in the March 2023 episode, while Lynskey added, “By the way, this was like day three of knowing each other. And the suggestion was made and I was like, ‘OK …sure.’”
Barrymore then joked, “I guess it’s just what us girls do. Oh, to be a girl.”
I forgot that Drew and Melanie costarred in Ever After (Melanie has done a lot of work, good for her). As for these “artistic frat house” parties, yes, I would definitely be the anti-social introvert who showed up solely for time in the painting studio, even amidst a throng of 500 revelers. And speaking of, I still can’t really fathom how it could be 500 people — did Drew live in that big a mansion, or did she rent out a venue? It must’ve taken her the length of the entire bash just to greet and crash the physical space of each guest! No, I kid DB! She actually wasn’t too handsy with the ladies, save for a big hug she gave each of them when they walked on set. What struck me instead was how all over the place Drew was, like asking Melanie about her new kitten and then cutting Melanie off after two words to go kneel at Lauren’s feet and worship her (natural) red hair. What?! I mean, I too envy/adore those touched with tresses of fire… but don’t ask a question and then interrupt the answer before it starts!
photos credit: Getty and Roger Wong/Instarimages
I’m kinda hoping 2025 is the year where Drew is less in everyone’s faces. Too close, too much, too cringey.
Drew is rocking those suits.
We are the same age so inna way I feel like we grew up together. I of course did not have her childhood issues but I was also pretty messy in the 90s.
And I can still be a bit too much now lol
Drew seems like a kind & loyal friend.
Her interviewing skills, however, are atrocious.
Let your guests speak!
Why ask a question if you aren’t going to allow them to answer it?
Same with Kelly Clarkson. Very friendly to her guests but constantly cuts them off to say Oh me too, or tell stories about herself in the middle of her guests trying to speak. Weird.
In the heady days before the dot com bubble burst we hosted and went to huge parties. Half the staff of AOL would turn up everywhere.
I LOVE Yellowjackets (the tagline for season 3 is beautifully deranged- which seems right)
and the nice man i live with does not do valentines day.
He is a wonderful man who takes care of me and our cats and dogs (we just rescued a stray who was abandoned, so we’re back at 2 dogs) day in and day out. So i don’t really care that he does not vibe with the holiday.
So- i will TOTALLY be watching the at least the first episode of Yellowjackets for my valentines celebration.
(even on re-watch, one episode at a time is all i can do. That show is brilliant, but brutal.
Both the teen cast and the adult cast are magnificent.
500 is probably an exaggerated number, but the hill folk used to manage to have bonfires in fall weather on local farms that attracted at least a hundred people. The issue is more parking than house space when the event is outside and the young’ens are unsupervised and have older friends bringing the booze (and worse). I love Drew’s clothes and vibe. I do detest the personal space quirks, but her show is better than most.