Drew Barrymore Has the Best Response After Ke Huy Quan Confesses to Having a Crush on Her 40 Years Ago

Mar. 15, 2025

Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

In a pre-Valentine’s Day reveal,Drew BarrymoreandKe Huy Quaneach admitted that they both harbored secret crushes on each other as child stars.

Love Hurtsstar Quan was Barrymore’s guest on the Wednesday, Feb. 12, episode of her syndicated talk show, where the two reminisced about hanging out in the early ’80s. While they never co-starred in a movie together, Barrymore had starred inSteven Spielberg’s 1982 filmE.T.when she was just 7 years old and recalled becoming friends with Quan when she visited the London set of the director’s 1984 filmIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty; Lucasfilm Ltd/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

“I’m gonna make a confession,” Quan, who would have been around 12 years old at the time he was filmingTemple of Doom, continued. “I’ve never told anybody this, but since I’m so excited being on the Drew show. When we went to the zoo, I had a crush on you.”

“I thought you were so cute, beautiful, and we’re having this fun time,” Quan added, “and when we came back, remember we had a date night?”

“Yes, we went to dinner,” Barrymore confirmed as another pic of the pair as youngsters sharing a table at a restaurant appeared.

“You know what’s so funny? I’ve never admitted this to you either,” continued Barrymore, who said she also had a crush on Quan while recalling a night when the child stars were hanging out. “We were at what was known as the Academy on Wilshire Boulevard. It was a screenings theater. It’s still there, I think. And you and I were hanging out, and I ate a chocolate covered banana.”

Barrymore explained that when she went to the bathroom, she discovered that she had chocolate all over her face. “Not at the sides of the mouth, like full clown face,” she said. “And I remember thinking ‘From now on if you’re to eat food in front of someone just don’t go that hog wild.’ Because I’ll never forget!"

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

While it may have been the first time they’ve owned up to their childhood crushes, Quan’s appearance onThe Drew Barrymore Showisn’t the first time he and the host have had a chance to catch up. The pair reunited at the2023 Time100 Gala, where they presented Spielberg with the magazine’s Impact Award.

“I have never been more proud in my working professional career than being able to find, in 1981, 6-year-old Drew Barrymore and, in early 1983, 11-year-old Ke Huy Quan,” the three-time Oscar winner said. “I just was so lucky to find them both, and they have not changed in all those years.”

“It’s really interesting,” Spielberg added. “After we madeE.T., Drew flew out to London when we were shootingIndiana Jones, and that’s where she and Ke became best friends.”

source: people.com