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Haven’t nailed down your Valentine’s and/or Galentine’s Day plans yet? Well, you could spend it by watching the first two episodes of Yellowjackets season three! Ok, I haven’t actually seen any of Yellowjackets (I’m a little scared!), but from all I’ve heard about it, it’s probably not the right vibe for the day of love. (Unless that’s your jam, in which case carry on!) To hype the premiere, the main cast — Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Tawny Cypress, and Lauren Ambrose — stopped by The Drew Barrymore Show this week. Which is how we learned that Drew Barrymore used to throw “500-person parties” back in the day?! I’m not even sure if the number of people in my contacts reaches 100! But Melanie and Christina were at those parties, and reminisced with Drew fondly:

Drew Barrymore knows how to throw a party. On this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, the actress remembered hosting “500-person parties” back in the day.

The trip down memory lane came during a conversation with the cast of Yellowjackets, including Barrymore’s old friends Christina Ricci and Melanie Lynskey, who were the first to bring up her “fun parties.”

“I would throw these 500-person parties,” Barrymore said, to which Ricci added, “They were so fun. I don’t remember leaving your parties. But I definitely remember getting there and being there.”

Barrymore playfully said that was “all [she] could hope for,” while Lynskey remembered the “painting studio” Barrymore set up in her house for the gatherings.

“There were always like ping pong tables, or like quarters games. It was sort of like [an] artistic frat house,” Barrymore said. “It was at a time — I felt like everyone would come and it was all discretion and cool and good times.”

Lynskey and Barrymore’s friendship goes way back to the late 1990s, when they both starred in Ever After. In the Cinderella-inspired flick, Lynskey and Megan Dodds played Barrymore’s step-sisters.

The last time Lynskey appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show, she and Barrymore reminisced on their time filming the movie — including a topless photo Lynskey took of Dodds in a cornfield.

“I don’t know what I was thinking at the time. It was just kind of like, ‘Oh, this would be really groovy to do. Let’s go take topless photos in a cornfield,’” Dodds said in the March 2023 episode, while Lynskey added, “By the way, this was like day three of knowing each other. And the suggestion was made and I was like, ‘OK …sure.’”

Barrymore then joked, “I guess it’s just what us girls do. Oh, to be a girl.”

[From Decider]

I forgot that Drew and Melanie costarred in Ever After (Melanie has done a lot of work, good for her). As for these “artistic frat house” parties, yes, I would definitely be the anti-social introvert who showed up solely for time in the painting studio, even amidst a throng of 500 revelers. And speaking of, I still can’t really fathom how it could be 500 people — did Drew live in that big a mansion, or did she rent out a venue? It must’ve taken her the length of the entire bash just to greet and crash the physical space of each guest! No, I kid DB! She actually wasn’t too handsy with the ladies, save for a big hug she gave each of them when they walked on set. What struck me instead was how all over the place Drew was, like asking Melanie about her new kitten and then cutting Melanie off after two words to go kneel at Lauren’s feet and worship her (natural) red hair. What?! I mean, I too envy/adore those touched with tresses of fire… but don’t ask a question and then interrupt the answer before it starts!

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