Drew Barrymore Admits Mornings Before School with Her 2 Daughters Are Still a ‘S--- Show,’ But It’s ‘Getting Better’

Charna FlamMon, October 12, 2026 at 9:04 PM UTC

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Drew BarrymoreCredit: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic -

Drew Barrymore confessed on the Monday, Oct. 12 episode of her talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, that mornings are still chaotic with daughters Olive, 14, and Frankie, 12

While the mornings before school are still a “s--- show,” she said, it’s getting easier for the trio

“It is only getting better now that they are 12 and 14,” she said of her daughters, whom she shares with ex-husband Will Kopelman

Drew Barrymore admits that getting her daughters ready for school isn’t quite as easy as she’d like.

The actress, 51, explained on the Monday, Oct. 12 episode of her eponymous talk show that the morning routine with her daughters, Olive, 14, and Frankie, 12, is a “s--- show.” Barrymore shares both daughters with ex-husband Will Kopelman.

One audience member asked the host if, as a working mother, her mornings with her children are chaotic. The E.T. actress bluntly replied, “Oh my god, they are a s--- show.”

“It is only getting better now that they are 12 and 14,” she explained. “In fact, I woke up this morning, and I was like, ‘They’re getting themselves dressed.’”

Will Kopelman and Drew Barrymore with their daughtersCredit: Drew Barrymore/Instagram

As the Wedding Singer star continued, she remarked that “it is getting better and more fun” as her daughters grow up. “They say big kids big problems; they’re not wrong. Something about, like, toddlers and young kids, there’s like a negotiating process that everybody thinks you’re supposed to know how to handle, and I was like, ‘Ah!’”

But Barrymore explained how she started to “improve” their mornings by setting out their shoes and backpack in the same place each morning.

“I would try to encourage them to do it, and if they didn’t, I was like, ‘Screw it, I’m not gonna stand on ceremony that you didn’t do it,’ ” she said. “I’m gonna set them here, and so at least the shoes and the backpack were in the same place in the hallway.”

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She explained to the audience that she learned to create a system. “I didn’t know about systems before, and it helped me exponentially, so whatever works for you, do it.”

Drew Barrymore in New York City on Oct. 12, 2026Credit: the drew barrymore show

Since becoming a mother, the actress has spoken candidly about the highs and lows, confessing in a 2023 interview that, in the early stages of parenting, she felt like a “failure.”

“All those parents who have it all together, and they’ve got hygiene and nutrition and schedules and boundaries, God bless you. I didn’t know any of that stuff when I had my kids,” she revealed on the Chicks in the Office podcast.

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In September 2025, Barrymore got candid about how she deals with burnout from parenting her two kids in a cover story for Real Simple. “When I get burnout from trying to mom really hard and work really hard, I go, ‘You know what? This isn’t good,’ “ she told the outlet. “And I know that at the end of the day, the most important thing in life is your relationships. If I’m not putting that first, then I’m on the wrong track.”

“So I talk to my kids. And I do try to show them that the more you work on yourself, the happier you’re going to be, the more your friendships will thrive,” she continued. “We all need tools to navigate the world, and asking for help is everything.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”