Why Drew Barrymore Is 'So Excited' About Turning 50: 'I Have No Issues with Aging' (Exclusive)

"This last decade has been the most ass-kicking and furthering of my life, and it is finally bringing peace," said the actress

Steven Ferdman/Getty  Drew Barrymore on Sept. 9, 2024

Steven Ferdman/Getty

Drew Barrymore on Sept. 9, 2024

Drew Barrymore can't wait to turn 50.

The actress is the cover star of AARP The Magazine's February/March 2025 issue, reflecting on her upcoming milestone birthday, her career and personal life.

Barrymore, who turns 50 on Feb. 22, told the magazine she wants to celebrate by hanging with her daughters Olive, 12, and Frankie, 10, and cooking with friends while doing "some real middle-aged woman s---."

"It can’t come soon enough," she said of her birthday. "I feel like Frodo [in The Lord of the Rings]: I see that brass ring and I’m so excited! I have no issues with aging — this is the happiest I’ve been in my life."

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The host of The Drew Barrymore Show got emotional in a video interview with AARP The Magazine while discussing her evolving perspective on aging and her goals for the future.

"You just realize you're gonna live X amount of years, if you're lucky, and I would like to live the second half of my life like the B side a record, not the same way as the A side," the star said in the video.

"My whole life I've been worried and stressed and, like, happy and having the best time ever. I would have never guessed that I would feel peace," Barrymore added through tears. "... This last decade has been the most ass-kicking and furthering of my life, and it is finally bringing peace."

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courtesy of AARP The Magazine Drew Barrymore

courtesy of AARP The Magazine

Drew Barrymore

Speaking to PEOPLE in April 2024, Barrymore shared what she would want to tell her younger self.

"If I had tried to give advice to my younger self, I 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 said at the time.

"But I would like this little girl to know that she will be a good mom and she will really care about her kids," she added.

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