Drew Barrymore is defending her decision to bring her talk show back without writers

• The Drew Barrymore Show is set to return for its fourth season without its writers, amid the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike.
• But Barrymore backed up the show's return in an Instagram post on Sunday, after criticism from the Writers Guild.

Actress Drew Barrymore has defended the return of her talk show for a fourth season without its writers amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes.

A recent announcement of the return of the Drew Barrymore Show for a fourth season prompted backlash from the Writers Guild of America, or WGA, who have been on a strike since May 2, demanding better pay from studios and protections against AI.

But Barrymore stood firm on her decision.

"I own this choice. We are in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind," Barrymore wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday. A struck production means union members are not allowed to work on the show during the duration of the strike.

"And to be clear, our talk show actually wrapped on April 20th so we never had to shut down the show. However, I am also making the choice to come back for the first time in this strike for our show, that may have my name on it but this is bigger than just me," she added.

In the same lengthy post, Barrymore also defended her decision to walk away from hosting the MTV Movie and TV Awards in May, writing: "It was also in the first week of the strike and so I did what I thought was the appropriate thing at the time to stand in solidarity with the writers."

Barrymore's show — which runs on CBS — is scheduled to return on September 18 with a still-undetermined list of guests.

Last week's announcement of the show's return drew backlash from the WGA, which announced on X that it plans to picket the show on Monday. "Any writing on "The Drew Barrymore Show" is in violation of WGA strike rules," they added on the post.

The WGA did not respond to Insider's request for comment. A WGA spokesperson told Deadline on Sunday: "The Drew Barrymore Show is a WGA-covered, struck show. It has stayed off the air since the strike began on May 2nd, but has now (unfortunately) decided to return without its writers."

The announcement of the show's return also drew backlash from fellow actors.

Standup comedian Adam Conover posted on X on Sunday that guests on Barrymore's talk show would be forced to cross a picket line, writing, "Drew: This harms your writers and all union workers. Please reconsider."

"Who is writing her opening monologue and literally everything else on this show when it starts up again next week? Scab writers?" actress Felicia Day wrote on X on Sunday.

The writers' strike has already outlasted the 100-day writers' strike of 2007-8, which cost the California economy around $2 billion at the time, per the Milken Institute.

The Drew Barrymore Show was one of several daytime talk shows — including "The Talk" and "The Kelly Clarkson Show" — affected by the writers' strike, per the Hollywood Reporter.

Barrymore and CBS did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.