Drew Carey Explains Why He Still Enjoys Hosting The Price is Right and Remembers Late Ex-Fiancée

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Drew Carey has hosted The Price is Right since 2007, and the actor/comedian has been in the spotlight even longer. That’s lots of laughs in front of the camera: and some pretty tough moments off-screen, too. As he prepares to celebrate TPIR‘s 10,000th episode (airing Feb. 26), he looked back at his own personal and professional challenges in a new Us Weekly cover story.

What keeps his day job fun and interesting for him? Carey revealed:

I’m playing games all day! There are more than 70 different contests on the show, so I’m never bored. It’s like game night at home: What are we going to play tonight? Is it going to be Scrabble or Monopoly or Cards Against Humanity? I’m also really interested in how people arrive at decisions under pressure. Do they listen to their spouse, to the crowd, to a friend? Or do they go with their gut and ignore everybody else?

Carey also concludes each ep by saying “I love you.” Of that decision, he shared:

I say it to everybody. I think it should be as common as saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye.’  text my female friends with a heart, I tell ’em I love ’em. And I tell their husbands and kids [the same thing]. There’s nothing wrong with spreading love and saying ‘I love you’ to people. The idea that men especially are told they’re not allowed to express love or they’re not allowed to hug because they’ll appear weak or not masculine enough is ridiculous. It breaks my heart. I think it’s important to tell people you love them. It might be the last time you see them. You don’t know.

Carey himself experienced a tragedy, when his ex-fiancée, Amie Harwick, was murdered in 2020. That love and that loss are still with him today. Carey reflected:

I think about her every day. It’s such a loss. Her death still affects me and my ideas about relationships and intimacy. It was all damaged by first our breakup, and then, the day before she died, when she texted me. It had been a really bad breakup for both of us, but a necessary one. I couldn’t think about her or see a picture of her. I didn’t want to be reminded. And then I got a text from her out of the blue. She said, ‘Hey, it’s Amie. I’ve been thinking a lot about forgiveness. I would love to get together with you and talk about some things.’ I texted her that I loved her and that I’d see her the next week. I heard from one of her friends that she shed tears about my saying that I loved her still. Which I did. I loved her madly even though we were broken up.