HOLLYWOOD -- Drew Barrymore is on her own and loving every minute of it.

Make that almost every minute.

Earlier this year, Barrymore broke up with Luke Wilson, her co-star in Home Fries and boyfriend for three years.

She briefly dated Jeremy Davies, the star of Spanking the Monkey and one of the soldiers in Saving Private Ryan.

She attended several Oscar functions on the arm of best-actor nominee Edward Norton, who she met on the set of Everyone Says I Love You.

"Just friends. The guys I've been seeing are truly just really good friends. I'm not in a romance and I'm happy not to be for the time being," says Barrymore.

"Luke and I had three really great years. I'm sorry it couldn't have lasted longer. I certainly wanted it to. I'm always very hopeful and a bit of a dreamer, so I thought we'd be a couple much longer."

Barrymore admits that at first she was "terrified I'd be lonely. Friends explained that would never happen if I saw that you can be great company for yourself."

To test the theory, Barrymore went on a holiday to Hawaii, her first ever on her own.

"It was so liberating. During the day I'd meet and mingle with people, but at night I'd always go back to my room alone.

"The hardest thing about being on your own is eating in restaurants. The trick is to bring a book with you and to read in the lulls between courses.

"What I loved most about the Hawaii experience is that I saw I could make myself happy."

Barrymore is just as happy with her career as she is with her personal life.

Her recent films, The Wedding Singer and Ever After, were hits at the box-office and on video.

She not only stars in her new film Never Been Kissed, but produced it. The film opens Friday in Calgary.

It's the story of Josie Geller, whose traumatic high-school experience left lasting scars on her self-confidence.

Josie was the brunt of cruel humour and she made few lasting friendships.

Five years after a particularly humiliating graduation, Josie has to return to high school to research an undercover story for the Chicago Tribune.

Josie quickly learns that some things never change.

"I loved the script for Never Been Kissed because it is so honest. Most of today's teen movies are too jovial. They don't tap into the real pain and humour of those awkward high-school years.

"Never Been Kissed taps into the same kind of pain and angst that such (John Hughes) movies as The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles did."

Barrymore says she has very few positive memories connected with her own schooling.

In her first year of school, Barrymore landed a starring role in E.T. The Extraterrestrial.

"From that point on, few kids at school ever wanted to get to know me. I kept having to leave school to make movies so there was never any permanency."

Barrymore stresses that Never Been Kissed is not exclusively a teen film.

Long after graduation, people experience may of the same feelings they did in high school because if you conceive of yourself as an outsider, you'll be one all your life."

Barrymore can't believe she has become a role model for teens, but it's a reality she has to face.

"Young girls come up to me all the time to ask for advice. I think they see me as a survivor. They figure if I can be happy after all I've gone through, there's hope for everyone."

Before she was 18, Barrymore had grappled with alcoholism, drug addiction and numerous failed relationships.

On her Saturday Night Live appearance this year she sang a hilarious tell-all song detailing her public and private sins.

"I don't have any no-comment areas in my life. It's all been documented," she says.

"I jumped at the chance to make fun of myself, but

I told the writers not to make it so mean that I'd go home depressed.

"It's not just fun but healthy to laugh at yourself and I've been laughing up a storm for a couple of years now."


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