After her “painful 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman,” OK! says that Barrymore “swore off men” entirely. However, quarantine seems to have changed her mind. “Drew has been talking to Tom [Cruise] a lot during lockdown, and they’re now on the verge of a full-blown romance,” an unnamed source reveals.
“Tom thinks Drew’s adorable and she, of course, says he’s totally dreamy and gets better looking with age. They’re both single and open to a relationship — the timing is perfect.” The magazine says that the two have actually known each other for decades, and it wasn’t until the past few weeks that things started to heat up.
“There was a moment not too long ago when Drew realized she was ready to date again, and Tom was the first guy who came to mind,” the snitch says, noting that Barrymore’s crushed on Cruise for years.
She ultimately reached out first, asking Cameron Diaz to put her in touch with the Mission: Impossible star. “She was really nervous to call. But as soon as Tom answered and heard her voice, it was smooth sailing. He was really happy to hear from Drew. They had a great talk.”
Things apparently got more intense after the first conversation. “Tom’s been in London, but he’s promised to take Drew out for a night on the town when he’s able,” the anonymous insider says.
It won’t be going out for just a quick bite or anything either, as he’ll definitely want to bring her on “a ride in his chopper to a Michelin-starred restaurant” or “a trip in one of his private planes” to a romantic destination. “Drew definitely wants to see more of Tom,” the source concludes.
She gets an incredible buzz every time they talk. And friends are rooting for them too. A lot of people think they’re a great match.
New Idea, meanwhile, learned that the two were “set to become Hollywood’s newest golden couple.” Similarly, it reports that they’ve been friends for years after Diaz introduced them to one another. Now, it reports, the friendship has advanced to daily Zoom calls and plan-making for an American rendezvous.
“Tom has been a secret member of Drew’s squad for a long time now, and first crossed paths 36 years ago when they both became household names around the same time,” says a “well-placed” source.
They have tons of friends in common including Cameron, who is on the phone to Drew every day, plus Steven Spielberg and Adam Sandler.
“Drew reached out to ask Tom’s advice about her new TV talk show, because she values his input and would love to have him on the show,” the verbose insider says. “They’ve been bonding over shared interests like travel and parenting, plus gossiping about everything that’s going on in Hollywood and beyond.”
This time, the story acknowledges Barrymore’s past comments where she said that she isn’t opposed to the idea of dating, but she’s just not sure if she’s got the time or energy to invest in it at this point.
Cruise has been just as low-key since his last divorce and has been spending his time in London with Mission: Impossible shooting. When it comes to Barrymore, however, he’s allegedly even considering a dramatic return to “the States, where he’ll look to spend time with Drew in LA.”
The magazine then quotes the exact same lines from OK!‘s story. “Tom thinks Drew’s adorable, and she, of course, says he’s totally dreamy and gets better looking with age. She definitely wants to see more of Tom,” the prolific tipster shares with New Idea. “She gets an incredible buzz every time they talk.
And friends are rooting for them too. A lot of people think they’re a great match.” “Tom & Drew: It’s On!” says Woman’s Day, using just about the exact same headline that appeared in the two other publications. “Following her painful 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman,” the tabloid says, “Drew Barrymore swore off men.”
However, it adds in a familiar tone, bestie Cameron Diaz changed her mind when she put her in touch with Cruise. Once again, the outlet hits pretty much all of the same points with the same old quotes — they’ve been talking during lockdown, he thinks she’s adorable, she thinks he’s dreamy, the timing is perfect, and she’s always been into him.
First things first, there’s just about zero evidence of Tom Cruise and Drew Barrymore’s supposed decades of friendship. Barrymore’s one of the most honest and open stars in Hollywood, so we can’t really buy the idea of her never mentioning her “friendship” with Cruise, even in passing, a single time in the “decades” that they’ve been pals.
No legitimate celebrity outlets have even really mentioned the two stars’ names in the same headline for crying out loud. We’re sure they know of each other and may have met at an event or two, but years of friendship is a stretch at the very least.
Another concerning aspect of this sort of writing is the fact that it’s entirely degrading towards Barrymore. She’s not kicking back and listing out dreamy boys to date like some sort of stereotypical teenaged schoolgirl. Despite how hard these tabloids try to imply otherwise, we can guarantee that these “sources” heard Barrymore say she was going to swear off men.
That’s a purposeful misconstruing of something she said on her talk show while interviewing Jane Fonda. “Recently you said that you were swearing off men,” Barrymore told Fonda. “Can I please talk to you about this? ‘Cause I think I’m there and have been there for the last five years.”
When Fonda told Barrymore she was still too young to call it quits, the 50 First Dates actress clarified that she wasn’t actually done with dating. “But I have been exactly in that mentality for the last five years,” she explained, “thinking I just don’t have the bandwidth, I don’t know if I’m willing to open [up],” she said. “I just can’t fit it in.”
That was just a few weeks ago, which simply doesn’t add up to the tabloid’s framing of her on-going flirtations with Cruise. Besides, in what world do these two have time every single day to talk about everything happening in their lives? There’s a massive time difference between the two’s current locations, and the thought of Cruise running a lax schedule while filming two Mission: Impossible movies at the same time is beyond laughable.
Hollywood isn’t as big as one would think, so it’s not too surprising to see multiple outlets talking about the same subject. In this case, however, there’s something funky going on. Woman’s Day and New Idea are run by the same parent company, Bauer Media, which has now rebranded as Are Media.
Back when it was known as Bauer, the company published the Australian edition of OK!, which was cancelled last month. Essentially, there’s not a whole lot of diversity in media ownership when it comes to the tabloids, which is why the publications confidently run either the same stories or the exact opposites to cover their bases — we wouldn’t be shocked to read a future report from one of these magazines about how a source says that Barrymore will never date again.
In this case, it looks a whole lot like these publications are sharing the same document of “insider quotes” and just lazily throwing up the same version of the story since most readers probably won’t realize that they’re not getting any exclusive information until it’s too late.
Of course, it’s entirely possible that all three of these publications got fleeced by a clearly fake tipster, but that’d be just plain embarrassing. For clarification as to whether or not this was an innocent mistake, let’s look at these outlets’ past reporting on this sort of subject.
NW wrote that Barrymore had hit it off with Kristen Stewart on the set of Charlie’s Angels, and it was almost certain that romance would blossom shortly. However, there wasn’t anything to connect the two stars whatsoever — which is exactly the problem with her connection to Cruise.
It even claimed in March that Cameron Diaz had convinced Barrymore to have another child, again dragging Diaz into a totally bogus narrative. We’re actually starting to lose track of the times the magazine was sure Barrymore was pregnant.
Likewise, Woman’s Day has falsely reported in the past that the actress was expecting another child. OK! incorrectly claimed that she was remarrying her ex-husband in 2018, but it seems to have forgotten that story entirely.
Seriously, these tabloids need to take a steady look at their archives — and each other — if they want to come up with something that makes sense and is actually worth reading. Until then, we’re fine writing this off as a lazy attempt to fill the pages between ads for commemorative coins and pricey lotion.