"Sometimes I bust out and do things so permanent. Like tattoos and marriage"
About this Quote
The subtext is celebrity adulthood in miniature. For public figures, private choices become public artifacts: ink photographed by tabloids, relationships parsed like plotlines. Saying she “bust[s] out” hints at the pressure-cooker effect of being watched - the idea that identity can feel claustrophobic until you carve it into your skin or your legal status. It’s also a sideways nod to her own biography: a former child star with a well-documented arc of rebellion and reinvention, where “settling down” can look less like stability and more like another dramatic pivot.
Pairing tattoos with marriage cleverly drains moral hierarchy from both. One is supposed to be youthful rebellion, the other grown-up seriousness; Barrymore collapses that distinction and reveals how both function as branding. In a culture that fetishizes flexibility - swipeable dating, rebrandable selves - she jokes about choosing the irreversible not as virtue but as impulse. The laugh comes with a sting: permanence may be less a carefully chosen value than a momentary way to feel real.
Quote Details
| Topic | Marriage |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Barrymore, Drew. (2026, January 17). Sometimes I bust out and do things so permanent. Like tattoos and marriage. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/sometimes-i-bust-out-and-do-things-so-permanent-51145/
Chicago Style
Barrymore, Drew. "Sometimes I bust out and do things so permanent. Like tattoos and marriage." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/sometimes-i-bust-out-and-do-things-so-permanent-51145/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Sometimes I bust out and do things so permanent. Like tattoos and marriage." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/sometimes-i-bust-out-and-do-things-so-permanent-51145/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.








