Hugh Grant reveals Drew Barrymore sent him a letter after his 1995 arrest

Barrymore had not yet met Grant at the time

Hugh Grant has revealed that Drew Barrymore sent him a letter of support after his arrest in 1995.

The Notting Hill star, who was with his long-term partner Liz Hurley, at the time, was arrested with sex worker Divine Brown in 1995.

Speaking on yesterday’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show (20 May), Grant revealed that Barrymore – whom he had not yet met at the time – had sent him a letter following his arrest.

“You were so nice,” said Grant. “It was during the dark days of my Divine Brown scandal, I was just an idiot. I was a grown-up idiot who got caught by the police.”

The actor said he received the letter when he was in England with “5,000 members of the press” camped outside his home.

“I opened a letter, from you, that was very supporting and nice, and it was very cheering up. I thought, ‘I love Drew Barrymore,’” he said.

“Words of support from an actress I didn’t know in Hollywood was lovely, so you will always have a place in my heart.”

Speaking about why she chose to send the letter, Barrymore – who was 20 years old at the time – said: “That whole incident I related to in my own life. I think that whether it’s an actor or politician or anything in between, we expect people to be infallible, perfect, never flawed.

(Drew Barrymore Show)

“And God forbid we do anything in our personal lives that we would like to remain personal. I just had to reach out to you.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the pair – who later starred together in the 2007 romantic comedy Music and Lyrics – discussed a spontaneous “10 minute” kiss they once shared off-screen in New York.

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“This was years ago,” recalled Barrymore. “I had a few drinks, I walked in and I ran into you. And instead of saying hello, I grabbed you by the collar and I fully started kissing you.”

She added that following the kiss, “we flirted and then it was like, ‘Ok, bye. See you soon.’”

Speaking about the surprise greeting, Grant said he was “very drunk as well” on a night out with some “very nice but not drunk studio executives”.

“Someone said, ‘Oh, there is Drew Barrymore.’ I get up to say hi and then we make out for 10 minutes. Then I sit down and we go on talking about the script,” he added.