Drew Barrymore reveals she ‘cried every day, all day long’ while trying to homeschool her daughters

Drew Barrymore has revealed she has ‘cried every day’ while trying to homeschool her own children during the coronavirus pandemic.

The E.T. star, 45, spoke with Savannah Guthrie on the Today Show remotely on Tuesday, to discuss coronavirus relief efforts she’s helping to champion through the Beauty United campaign, which is where the subject of keeping her daughters occupied came up.

She told Guthrie how emotional the prospect of balancing discipline and education was for her, with seven-year-old Olive and five-year-old Frankie at home from school amid the coronavirus pandemic.

‘I cried every day, all day long,’ she told Savannah of the experience. 

‘It was like every church and state. It is the messiest plate I’ve ever held in my life to be the teacher, the parent, the disciplinarian, the caretaker.’

Drew, who shares her daughters with ex-husband Will Kopelman, added, ‘I didn’t think I needed to respect and appreciate teachers more than I did.’

Then, after a few days of going through it with her girls, Barrymore began to get the hang of it.   

‘You find your way,’ the Ever After actress said brightly. ‘We’re resilient, people!’

Of the inherent struggles everyone is facing during these strange times when everyone is forced to stay at home and nonetheless manage various responsibilities, news anchor Guthrie said, ‘It’s a choice to choose happiness in every moment.’

Barrymore enthusiastically agreed that ‘happiness is a war you fight every day,’ and that she considers herself as someone who ‘marches in the army of optimism!’   

And of her efforts to help frontline workers in their fight against the coronavirus, Barrymore marveled at the concerted efforts of her peers to supply vital PPE (personal protective equipment) to those in need.

‘I’m one in a sea of people that’s supporting this,’ the Flower Beauty founder said, who went on to list other companies partnering up for the Beauty United initiative including her friend Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, Bobbi Brown, Victoria Beckham, Revlon and Unilever, among others. 

‘The thing that I take away from this as well is, this is a moment in time where everyone is putting their separate companies [aside] and going into alignment,’ the Firestarter star continued. 

‘I see Kimmel, Colbert and Fallon hosting a show together, I see every beauty company coming together. I see a sea of change where network lines and company lines are fading away and this common goal is bringing everyone together.’