“I couldn’t ever go out with somebody I couldn't be friends with,” says actor Luke Wilson. Maybe that’s why the star of Dreamworks Pictures’ “Old School” likes to remain pals with his exes. Wilson, who declined to discuss his current romantic status during an interview to promote the new campus comedy, did indicate that he is still close with former girlfriends Gwyneth Paltrow (he attended memorial services for her father in October) and Drew Barrymore. In fact, says Wilson, he is so close with his “Home Fries” co-star that she offered him small roles in both “Charlie’s Angels” movies.
“The fact that she hired me when we were no longer dating and were not even necessarily getting along that well says a lot to me,” he boasts. “I wouldn’t want to hire somebody I had been going out with. I would just as soon not see them for a while.”
Now Wilson says, “If I've got something bothering me, Drew is one of the first people I go to just to talk about it. She is one of my best friends.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 7, 2003. Read the original PDF.