It’s ok, Drew Barrymore. We’d hold Oprah’s hand for that long, too

Drew Barrymore stayed true to her intimate conversation style when she welcomed Oprah Winfrey as a guest on her talk show Tuesday.

In a video shared on “The Drew Barrymore Show” Instagram page, the two women discussed their talk show experiences and the importance of spending extra time with audience members after tapings. Winfrey recalled doing that “every day” of the “Oprah Winfrey Show.”

As they chatted, Barrymore held Winfrey’s hand close to her face, sparking some critical observations and humor about the moment online.

At another point in the interview, they had a sweet chat about Barrymore appearing on Winfrey’s show when she was an actor around age 14.

“I could tell at the time that you had so much wisdom,” Barrymore said in between holding Winfrey’s hand and touching her arm. “I feel like I am learning more here not playing a character, but being myself, my children’s mother, my friend’s friend.”

Barrymore is known for a casual and occasionally tactile interview style, setting up a comfortable-at-home kind of vibe. Her dog even slept soundly next to Winfrey during Tuesday’s episode.

“I feel this magnetic pull,” she told Jimmy Fallon in April of her approach as a host. “I’ve also been on the other side of interviews my whole life… There’s all different kinds of interviews and conversations.”

Barrymore is also keenly aware of the memes, and even went in on the joke when Ross Matthews, her “Drew’s News” co-host, jokingly duct taped her to her chair before she interviewed former First Lady Michelle Obama last spring.

“Hey Drew, these are my friends from the Secret Service,” he said in the clip posted to the show’s TikTok page. “They saw the memes about how close you get to people you’re interviewing, and they just want to make sure you don’t pounce on our special guest today.”

Nodding in agreement, she said, “Oh gosh, I get it. Look, I’m in on the joke… I know that I get too close to people and I’m too much, but what do you expect with the guest we have coming out?”

“But I’ll tell you one thing,” Barrymore said, preparing to break free from her restraints. “I have to be myself.”

For her part, Winfrey seemed just fine. She thanked Barrymore for being such a “kind and welcoming” host, and when asked by TMZ on Tuesday if she felt uncomfortable by Barrymore’s closeness, she said, “Not a bit. I was actually comforted by the stroking of the arm.”

“I went home and told Stedman, ‘You gotta stroke my arm. Stedman, I need to be stroked on the arm.’ It’s so comforting. No, I was not uncomfortable at all. I’ve never seen her do that but I thought it was endearing,” she said, adding, “She’s terrific and I love that she is always herself.”

And in all honesty, Drew, if we had the opportunity to hold Winfrey’s hand, we’d probably hang on for as long as we could, too.