Oprah Winfrey has said she found it “endearing” when Drew Barrymore caressed her arm and held her hand tight during an interview.
Winfrey was a guest on The Drew Barrymore Show and as the pair discussed their talk show experiences Barrymore clutched Oprah’s hand close to her face, stroking her arm with her other hand.
Comments under a clip of Tuesday’s interview on Instagram called out Barrymore’s tactile interviewing style.
“Drew, everyone doesn’t want their hands held boo,” one person wrote, with another adding, “Oprah’s body language was so clear she wanted her hand back”.
But Winfrey said that wasn’t the case at all. Asked by a TMZ reporter whether she felt uncomfortable during the interaction, she replied, “not a bit”.
“I was actually comforted by the stroking of the arm,” she said.
“I was not uncomfortable at all. I’d never seen her do that, but I thought it was endearing.”
She added she went home and told her husband Stedman Graham, “you gotta stroke my arm… it’s so comforting”.
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Barrymore is known for her hands-on approach to interviewing. When she interviewed Michelle Obama, the show opened with a segment in which she was taped to her chair by two “Secret Service agents”.
Her co-host Ross Mathews quipped: “They saw the memes about how close you get to people you’re interviewing and they just want to make sure you aren’t gonna pounce on our special guest today, so I’m gonna go ahead and strap you down.”
Barrymore responded: “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?”
Despite the memes, Winfrey doesn’t think Barrymore should change, telling TMZ: “She’s terrific and I love that she is always herself.”
