Drew Barrymore Ugly-Cried With Dermot Mulroney During an Emotional Bad Girls Reunion

Drew Barrymore is not afraid to get vulnerable on her talk show—and her guest cried right along with her.

On January 24, The Drew Barrymore Show shared a clip from the latest episode, featuring a surprise appearance from Anyone but You star Dermot Mulroney, who plays Sydney Sweeney’s father in the steamy rom-com based on Much Ado About Nothing. Not exactly a tear-jerker, but crying in front of her guests is kind of Barrymore’s thing. Plus, she and Mulroney have history.

The actors met on the set of the 1994 film Bad Girls, which began filming when Barrymore was a “lost” 17-year-old—and she hasn’t forgotten the impression Mulroney left on her. Barrymore, now 48, became visibly emotional when the 60-year-old actor walked in following her scheduled chat with fellow Bad Girls alums Andie MacDowell and Mary Stuart.

“I’m so happy to see you, I might cry,” Mulroney told Barrymore, who had already begun tearing up. Luckily, he seems to know his former costar well and whipped out a tissue. From there the tears kept flowing from both of them, forcing Mulroney to ask for half of his tissue back. My heart!

“You were so good to me. I really was, like, a lost 17-year-old,” Barrymore told him. “I was having so much fun, but I didn’t know how to take care of myself. And you took such good care of me. You were so kind to me and protected me.” She continued, “Dermot really, really took care of me. I mean, I was wild, guys. I was really, really wild.”

The entire clip made viewers pretty emotional as well. “Why am I crying too?!” one TikTok user asked, to which the show’s official account responded, “Are we all crying?” Fans replied with a resounding yes. “This is so heartwarming to see,” another fan wrote in the comments. “Drew did not have many people watching over her [and] protecting her while being so young in the industry.”

Over the years Drew Barrymore has been extremely candid about her tumultuous childhood, as well as her struggles with addiction throughout her teen years and adult life. Through his own tears, Mulroney described Barrymore as an “incredible survivor,” later adding, “I knew I was gonna [cry] and I came anyway—I decided I’m gonna go ahead and cry in public.” Consider it the Drew Barrymore effect.