Drew Barrymore considers converting to Judaism

(RNS) "I haven't converted yet," says new mom Drew Barrymore, but she sounds as if she will.

Drew Barrymore is telling the world that she and her Jewish husband plan to raise baby daughter Olive as Jewish, and the former child star may not be far behind. RNS photo courtesy Ale Vergara Frade via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/bncKvW) *Note: This image is not available to download.

(RNS) Drew Barrymore is telling the world that she and her Jewish husband plan to raise baby daughter Olive as Jewish, and the former child star may not be far behind.

Barrymore said so on “The View” on Friday (Jan. 25), but various celebrity outlets, such as E! Online and Us Weekly, reported it on Tuesday.

drew barrymore

Drew Barrymore is telling the world that she and her Jewish husband plan to raise baby daughter Olive as Jewish, and the former child star may not be far behind. RNS photo courtesy Ale Vergara Frade via Flickr (http://flic.kr/p/bncKvW) *Note: This image is not available to download.


Barrymore, soon to be 38, married art consultant Will Kopelman, 35, eight months ago in a traditional Jewish ceremony, with a rabbi, yarmulkes, chuppah and everything.

“He’s a nice Jewish man from a nice Jewish family,” Barrymore said. “I’m a shiksa (gentile). I do the seders and we do Passover. I haven’t converted yet, but Olive will be raised traditionally.”

She seemed to be leaning toward converting. She said Judaism is “a beautiful faith” and that she’s “so honored” to be around it.

“It’s so family-oriented,” she said. “The stories are so beautiful and it’s incredibly enlightening. I’m really happy.”

Why the sharing? Barrymore’s last movie, “The Big Miracle,” was released last year, but she has just launched a new line of affordable cosmetics called Flower. But maybe it’s because she’s deep in the happy hormones that can engulf a woman after childbirth: Olive was born in October.

Her daughter “actually has made me a morning person, so she’s already made me a better person in every way possible,” Barrymore told “The View” ladies. “I’m like Godzilla in the morning … before I’ve had that cup of caffeine, and with her I sing her ‘Good Morning’ with my husband from ‘Singing in the Rain’ every day. She has the biggest smile and it’s the first time I’ve smiled in the morning. I love it.”


(Maria Puente writes for USA Today.)

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