Michael Douglas Recalls Being Served by 11-Year-Old Drew Barrymore at Restaurant

Michael Douglas and Drew Barrymore go way back. 

The Fatal Attraction star, 80, and his eldest son, 46-year-old Cameron Douglas, appeared as guests on the Wednesday, Sept. 10 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, where the veteran actor recalled meeting the host, now 50, when she was working as a server in New York City at the age of 11. 

“I’m in a restaurant called Columbus, and this is back in the early ’80s,” Michael began. “It was a real hot restaurant, the hot spot up in the Upper West Side on Columbus Avenue.”

“And we’re heading there one night, and this waitress comes over to serve me, and it’s this 11-year-old young lady here,” he continued of their initial interaction. 

He then recalled what Barrymore first said to him: “[She said,] ‘Hi, can I help you, please?’ I said, ‘Well, is it past your bedtime?’ ” 

Though a tween wasn’t who the Basic Instinct actor expected to see serving in a N.Y.C. restaurant, he joked that the Charlie’s Angels alum was “incredible.”

Barrymore, whose mother is German actress Jaid Barrymore and father was film director John Drew Barrymore, has been vocal about her unconventional childhood over the years.

Michael went on to note that, around the same time, Cameron met Drew at the now-defunct nightclub Limelight, the same establishment where the actress celebrated her 10th birthday.

“Yes, oh, I was all up in the clubs,” Drew replied. She also joked that she and Cameron “got into a lot of trouble” during those early years.

“And look at where we are now! I’m so proud of both of us,” the 50 First Dates actress added. 

“When I was young, I didn’t really have family. I was out running around, waitressing and clubbing, working,” she explained.

The E.T. star added that while she was “having the best time ever,” when she got older, she wondered, “‘What life am I looking to build and be a part of?'”

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Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE in April 2024, Drew, who started working in Hollywood at 11 months old, also reflected on her past. 

“I’ve done covers of PEOPLE that have shown that I’m flawed and figuring it out, that I’m trying to get my life back on track, that I’ve become a mom, that I’ve gotten married, that I’m doing something right at work or starting a new endeavor in this talk show. At every interval that’s been symbolic in my life, there is a PEOPLE Magazine cover to show for it,” she said for PEOPLE’s 50th anniversary.

The actress, who developed a drug addiction beginning when she was 12 years old, also admitted that she had no advice for her younger self because she “wouldn’t have listened.”

“When you’re young, you think you know everything, and I was very stubborn and rebellious, so I not only didn’t listen to advice, whatever advice I got, I just basically did the opposite,” she told PEOPLE, emphasizing that she wasn’t mad at her parents for her past.

Now, as a mother herself, Drew is instilling all the life lessons she learned into her own two daughters, constantly reminding them of the importance of kindness and “asking for help.”