Drew Barrymore Opens Up About the Importance of Seeking Out 'Something Very Positive': 'We Need That' (Exclusive)

Drew Barrymore is all about positive vibes.

The actress and talk show host, 49, recently spoke with PEOPLE about what she considers the best “antidote” to life’s sometimes more demanding responsibilities.

“I always find, whether it’s on a show or in a magazine or on social media, nostalgia, like animals, gives this sense of warmth and humor and joy,” Barrymore said. “We need that in the world, we need that, probably very scientifically, we need that hit of something very positive in our brains as we process the world as a whole, as well as our own unique little journeys that are always filled with a lot of pressure and a lot of caring about people, and a lot of trying coping with everything.”

Drew Barrymore and Douglas for Ring.

Willie Petersen

“I just think animals are the antidote to everything, they just make us feel so good,” added Barrymore, who recently partnered with Ring for the campaign company Ring Pet Portraits. “Unlike many things that make us feel good, they are not very demanding. We are so lucky to have them.”

Drew Barrymore remembers ET as her ‘first imaginary friend’ 40 years after iconic film (Exclusive)

Although she gushed about her love for pets, the actress – who is a mother of two and a pet of up to seven – admitted: “Although I have cleaned up a lot of poop in my life. A lots of.”

And while on the subject of nostalgia, Barrymore also opened up about her role in the iconic 1982 film. ET and said that she considers the alien her “first imaginary friend”.

Drew Barrymore on the set of the movie “ET” in 1982.

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

“I think ET was definitely, in a way, my first imaginary friend that I also knew wasn’t real,” Barrymore said. “I completely understand, but I think we have to project the belief system thing into things. Whether it’s imaginary or very real and tangible, it’s part of the survival mechanism as well as an absolute delight to identify things that make us feel good, that make us believe in us, as if we believe in them.”

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Barrymore recently took a trip down memory lane – from ET to become a mother — while celebrating PEOPLE’s 50th anniversary.

Drew Barrymore is bringing back the “My boyfriend is out of town” t-shirt she wore Charlie’s Angels 2 Premiere in 2003

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“I’ve been a fan of this magazine all my life,” she said. “For me it is more than a magazine. It was like a safe place, a real indicator of what the hell was going on in my life. I did covers of PEOPLE that showed that I am flawed and that I realize it, that I am trying to get my life back on track, that I became a mom, that I got married, that I am doing something good at work or starting a new venture on this talk show. At every interval that has been symbolic in my life, there is a cover of PEOPLE magazine to show it.”

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Source: HIS Education