Ross Mathews’ first viewing of ET is going to be special as he plans on seeing the film with pal Drew Barrymore and her family.
“I’m going to watch it with her and her girls,” Mathews, 44, exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this week while attending the annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York City. “I was born in 1979 and I just missed it and then my older brother never wanted to rewatch movies.”
Since joining The Drew Barrymore Show in 2020, Mathews and Barrymore, 49, have struck up a strong friendship. He gushed to Us about what a “doll” she is and how everyone recalls to him about a sweet encounter they had with Barrymore.
“Now that I work with her, I find it difficult to watch her movies now,” he told Us. “Because I just think to myself, ‘Why is Drew acting like somebody else?’”
Barrymore got her first big break starring in the Steven Spielberg classic at 7 years old. The film premiered in 1982, and the world was introduced to Barrymore as Gertie, the lovable younger sister of Elliot (Henry Thomas) who befriends the extraterrestrial creature.
“Every person that I meet and who has met her has a story about her. It’s not just that they met,” Mathews explained to Us. “It’s that they met her and she tied their shoes or she told them they had toilet paper stuck on the bottom of it.”
Mathews shared that Barrymore is such a strong “communicator” which “drives her.” He also credited her passion to being one of the main reasons why the talk show is such a success amongst viewers.
“Our show can be outrageous and ridiculous and yet cringy sometimes in the way that goes viral,” he told Us. “But it’s always real and it’s always authentic.”
According to Mathews, being unapologetically themselves is one of the many things he and Barrymore “have in common.”
Barrymore has taken a break from acting since she began her talk show. However, her daughters have encouraged her to get back out there.
“I think the girls are like, ‘Yeah, Mom, we’re doing great. If you want to go do that, go back and do things,’” Barrymore exclusively told Us earlier this month. “So getting that permission from them was really huge and sort of opened up my mind, so we’ll see.”
With reporting by Andrew Nodell
