Justin Long’s love for Drew Barrymore lives on — just in a different way than when they were dating.
The Barbarian the actor opened up about his current relationship with his ex on the latest episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast Dinner is on merevealing they hadn’t seen each other in “a couple of years” when he appeared on her talk show in September 2022.
From a time before, before the COVID-19 pandemic, “I was single and we had this moment that we were trying to define [how we’d be] we move forward in each other’s lives because we have so much love for each other,” said Long, 45. “And at the end of the day, we’re dear friends.”
“And when you’re with Drew, she’s so hyper-present and loving. But it’s not bullshit — it’s not acting,” he continued. “So being on her show was that experience and a reminder of that, and how wonderful that glow is.”
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Justin Long and Drew Barrymore in Los Angeles April 17, 2010 Michael Caulfield/WireImage Drew Barrymore tells Justin Long’s ex-fiancée Kate Bosworth that they are the ‘ultimate couple’
Long, who married Kate Bosworth in May 2023, said he knew Barrymore, 49, “so well” that he almost forgot there was an audience at their 2022 reunion.
“When I’m with her, there’s such a familiarity that, I swear to God, Jesse, I forgot… public nature [our interview],” he explained. “And then you kind of snap out of it, or people have a reaction in the audience and you’re reminded like, ‘Oh yeah … this is being filmed.’ And then it gets a little weird.”
After Ferguson, 48, reflected on how “sweet” Long’s chat with Barrymore was — especially when the two said they would always love each other — Accepted star replied that he meant it, adding, “Unless there’s, like, some major misdemeanor, some felony… I don’t think love goes away.”
“When I think of her, I have such a deep affection and I’m always rooting for her, and I just love her,” he continued. “But then when you get back outside of that bubble of reality mixed with this thing on television, then your reality is outside of that, well, now you have a partner in your life who is so loving and so accepting, it makes it so easy.”
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Drew Barrymore; Kate Bosworth; Justin Long. Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty, Raymond Hall/GC Images, Daniela Venturelli/Getty Hollywood’s Kindest Former Celebrities
Long also spoke about how Bosworth, 41, sent Barrymore “flowers and a loving message” without his knowledge after his appearance on the show, saying: “She’s just such a thoughtful person and very, very developed.”
But until he “heard people’s reactions” to his interview with Barrymore, Long admitted he “didn’t feel” that their reunion on her show “could be a really weird thing” for his now-wife.
Luckily, though, “She didn’t find it that weird,” said Long, who started dating Blue Crush actress in 2021
Long and Barrymore were previously in a relationship between 2007 and 2010.
The actor previously said during a conversation with Ferguson that he doesn’t fully “understand relationships that end” after a breakup.
“Of course there is a period of difficulty, but I don’t understand that you carry that with you for the rest of your life,” Long said. “I try to be in relationships only with love [my exes] because things don’t go right, but you still had good years and good times, and I don’t understand it.”
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Source: HIS Education