Though the end of a marriage isn’t always synonymous with failure, most of those who have gone through it will agree that it sure can feel that way.
Actress-turned-entrepreneur Drew Barrymore experienced this after her three-year marriage to Will Kopelman ended just recently.
“I put in my statement, about [our] divorce, the word ‘failure,’ because it’s so honest,” Drew revealed to her friend Chelsea Handler in the premiere episode of the new show ‘Chelsea’.
In their official statement, which was released to the public in April 2016, Drew and Will agreed that they feel that their impending split doesn’t mean the end of their family.
The couple have two young daughters: Olive, 3 and Frankie, 2.
“Divorce might make one feel like a failure, but eventually you start to find grace in the idea that life goes on,” they said in the statement.
“When you get divorced, you’re like, ‘I’m the biggest failure. This is the biggest failure'”
In the ‘Chelsea’ interview, she goes on to explain what makes this type of separation different.
“When you break up with somebody, you’re like, ‘Yeah, that didn’t work,'” said the mom-of-two. “When you get divorced, you’re like, ‘I’m the biggest failure. This is the biggest failure.’ It’s so shameful and hard to actually go through that, even privately.”
Thankfully, though, Drew has put all those “shameful” thoughts behind her. She credits the support of her family and friends as well as her fans for helping her get past it.
“I have to say there has just been this really nice feeling of something very fluid and positive and the opposite of how I felt inside,” she shared. “Everyone has just been so cool and chill and nice about everything that it quelled my own fears and demons.”
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What’s next for Drew Barrymore? Find out on the next page
Though she wants to start going out again, she doesn’t necessarily mean dating.
“What I do want is girlfriend time,” she revealed to Chelsea Handler.
And, of course, what she looks forward to the most is spending time with her two best girls: her daughters.
“I’m meant to be in this world and on this planet raising two beautiful girls, hopefully, into great women,” she said, smiling.
Though she is a devoted mom, her own childhood was fraught with instability. In her autobiography, she recounts her emancipation from her mom at the age of 14, describing their strained relationship as having “zero protection” and “zero consistency”.
She has since spoken to her mom about the book and the two have managed to reconcile.
A photo posted by Drew Barrymore (@drewbarrymore) on
But more than wanting to come to terms with her difficult childhood, Drew wrote her life story as a ‘love letter’ to her girls.
“I do feel like I have a responsibility to tell my daughters how I became who I am…the truth—and nothing but the truth,” she told TODAY in a previous interview.
Drew has now put all the painful chapters behind her, writing a new story with her two beautiful girls, believing that being a mom is her chance to get it right.
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