Drew Barrymore defended her former co-star Hugh Grant on Friday amid controversy over whether he was rude to model Ashley Graham on the Oscars red carpet.
A video of Graham interviewing Grant at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony went viral earlier this week, with some people decrying Grant’s curt responses and possible eye roll.
Grant also had plenty of defenders. Some found his lack of enthusiasm for small talk downright relatable. Others suggested the backlash was a result of cultural differences between the United States and the United Kingdom, with The Washington Post asking, “Is Hugh Grant rude or just British?”
Barrymore, who appeared alongside Grant in 2007′s “Music and Lyrics,” had her own interpretation: The actor was simply being his “grumpy” self.
“There’s this thing going around with him and Ashley Graham on the red carpet. People are like, ‘Oh, he’s such a curmudgeon, and she’s so thrown,’” the talk show host said on Friday’s episode of her “Drew Barrymore Show.”
She continued: “I’m like, no, that is Hugh Grant. You think you’re getting this charming movie star, and what you really get is grumpy Hugh. And then you fall in love with grumpy Hugh.”
The “Never Been Kissed” actor brought up the red carpet hubbub while she was discussing another grumpy Grant-related subject: his recent description of Barrymore’s singing voice as “horrendous.”
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On her show, Barrymore laughed off his apparent brusqueness. “If you know Hugh, that is his way of loving you,” she said.
Her opinion of Grant seems to be much higher than he had once guessed, perhaps cheekily, back in 2009. When Elle magazine asked him to briefly speak about some of the stars he’s worked with, he had said of Barrymore: “Made her cry. Stunning film-star face. Hates me.”