Austin Butler offers to come to Drew Barrymore’s rescue if her blind date goes badly

Butler’s offer comes after Barrymore admitted she ‘dreads’ first dates

Austin Butler has sweetly offered to come to Drew Barrymore’s rescue if her blind date goes poorly.

The 48-year-old TV host spoke candidly about the dating scene during a preview of an upcoming episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, which featured Butler and his Masters of the Air co-star, Callum Turner, as guests. Speaking to the two actors, Barrymore confessed that she was gearing up for “her first date in a long time”, to which Turner responded: “I’m excited for your night tonight.”

However, Barrymore confessed that she was “not” excited for the date, adding: “I dread these things. They’re awkward.” She then described what the plans were, noting that the “gentleman offered to pick [her] up”, before going out to a “long dinner”.

She also shared that she has concerns about the outing due to some dating advice she’s heard. “Everyone says when you go on a date with someone, don’t do the dinner. Do a drink, but I don’t know better,” she said.

Butler then chimed in to disagree, explaining: “I like the dinner, then you know if it doesn’t work. You get to actually talk.” After he shared his belief that Barrymore was going to have “a good time” on the date, the Charlie’s Angels star asked what she should do if that didn’t happen.

“What if you get weird vibes right out of the gate though? Then what?” she asked, before Turner jokingly told her to “run” if that happens. The Elvis star then gave his recommendation on how to handle the situation.

“You go to the bathroom and you call a friend, and you have them give you a surprise call,” Butler said, before Barrymore asked him if he could do that for her. He then agreed to help the TV host get out of the date if he needed it, adding: “I’ll be your friend.”

Barrymore went on to acknowledge that she gets “very nervous” on dates, explaining that she’d “never met” the person she was going out with. After she confirmed that she’s going out with someone she met through a dating app, Butler said he was “excited to get updates” about the occasion.

However, the 50 First Dates star said she still wanted Butler to be her “get out of here free call” if she needed it. In response, he once again agreed, saying: “Just send me a text and I’ll call.”

This isn’t the first time that Barrymore has been open about her experiences on dating apps. During an episode of The Drew Barrymore Show that aired earlier this month, she revealed that she got catfished by someone pretending to be a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. She started off her story by describing what she first messaged him about the team after noticing his dating profile.

“So I wrote to him, and I was like: ‘Oh my god, I went to the first practice game. I was so frustrated being a girl from Los Angeles who loves football, and we didn’t have any teams, and then I moved away to New York, and then we got two teams, and it’s nice to meet you. My name is Drew,’” she said.

However, she said that she later learned that he was “not the quarterback for the LA Rams,” and that he was “a musician who thought he was being cute”. She also clarified that while she wasn’t trying “to land a football player,” she was just interested in talking about the sport with that man initially. She then confirmed that she lost interest in him after he lied about being a football player.

“And then the guy was like: ‘Hey Drewski,’ and I was like: ‘I hate you. You’ve made me feel stupid. I don’t know who you are. I don’t — I feel so dumb. Why did we have to get off on this foot? I hate you,’” she concluded.

Back in 2022, Barrymore confirmed that she was dating again, after being single for six years. Weeks later, she opened up about the benefits of bad dates, and how she was feeling good about getting back out there.

“I kind of shuttered down for a while,” Barrymore told Entertainment Tonight in December 2022. “I take breaks and then I’m like: ‘You know what? I’m ready to try this again.’ I’m just sort of open to the idea again, because I hibernate like a bear in my dating life. I will turn off the app. I will not have it in my world...You have on and off seasons. I feel like I’m having an on season.”

While she’s not publicly in a relationship, Barrymore has been married before, as she split from husband of four years, Will Kopelman, in 2016. Before their split, the former couple welcomed two children: Olive, 11, and Frankie, nine.

She was also married twice in the 90s, as she and Tom Green split in 1995 after a year of marriage. In 1994, she married Jeremey Thomas, but announced their breakup only a few weeks later.