Drew Barrymore had many fears about her infamous “Momala” interview.
The childhood star, 49, spoke at The Paley Center’s “An Evening With Drew Barrymore” Monday about anticipating her talk show interview earlier this year with Vice President Kamala Harris — which was deemed cringe by many viewers.
Barrymore explained that she wanted her chat with Harris, 59, “to be a more personal experience” where she could “disarm” Donald Trump’s presidential opponent, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“I want to take the armor off. This isn’t about talking about issues like that. This is not the place for that,” she said.
“All I kept thinking was, if you do one thing to screw up this woman’s path — and you are the clown to do it — and if you do one thing that makes her look bad, or becomes a gap, or just does something to… [interviewing] is such an art,” the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show” continued.
“How do you get so personal? I’ve never… that’s the scariest conversation I’ve done on the entire show’s history,” she added.
Barrymore went on, “I was like, if I tarnish this woman… I wanted to see her be fun and disarmed, but I was like, what if I do one thing that’s goofy and she plays along, and I’ve led her down a bad path?”
“That was making me so sick to my stomach,” Barrymore admitted, “but I wasn’t going to give up trying to [do it].”
However, Barrymore said the “good news” for her was that Harris was vulnerable during their one-on-one chat.
“It was an electric connection,” the “E.T.” star said. “It was one of the most ignited, exciting experiences of my life, and it was about something that she lives every day, which is how to not get it wrong.”
The awkward exchange between Barrymore and Harris on the former’s CBS talk show in the spring went viral for all the wrong reasons.
For starters, Barrymore sat uncomfortably close to the politician, which she recently said is something she’s trying to work on.
In another cringe moment, the “Charlie’s Angels” actress said the country should call Harris “Momala” in order to become more united.
“I keep thinking in my head that we all need a mom,” Barrymore told the VP. “I’ve been thinking that we really all need a tremendous hug in the world right now. But in our country, we need you to be ‘Momala’ of the country.”
Harris simply said “yeah” and nodded as the audience clapped.
On social media, viewers roasted Barrymore and called the interview with Harris “insane,” “uncomfortable” and “cringe worthy.”
“Do you know how insane a conversation has to be to make Kamala seem like the normal one?” one person posted.
Barrymore’s appearance at The Paley Center was held the same day as the Season 5 premiere of her talk show.
Harris also has a busy week: she’s going against Trump, 79, in their first and only scheduled debate on Tuesday night.
