Drew Barrymore Reflects on Divorce Heartbreak: ‘It Destroyed Me, But I’m Moving Forward’

Known for her just-between us-girls vibe on her daytime talker The Drew Barrymore Show, Drew Barrymore got real when discussing her 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman with recent guests Joy Behar and Susie Essman. Opening up about her heartbreak, the mom to Olive, 12, and 10-year-old Frankie confessed that the split “destroyed” her, admitting that she still hasn’t “fully recovered” from the demise of her four-year marriage to the art consultant — and of her dream to have a secure family unit, lamenting, “I was so invested in that plan.”

While Drew has been enjoying a career resurgence since the chatfest debuted in 2020, her personal life has been less sunny. “Drew went through a painfully dark period when she and Will split up,” an insider tells Star. “There was a lot of guilt because she wanted to give her kids the kind of childhood that she never had, with two parents living together in a happy home.” Post-divorce, the former wild child even reverted to her self-destructive ways. “She felt like a failure,” adds the source. It’s taken years for her to overcome the loss and to build a new relationship with her ex — who welcomed a child with new wife Alexandra Michler in 2023. Says the insider, “They’re both in a better place now, and they understand each other better, too.”

‘Cripplingly Difficult’ Split

It had been an odd match. Drew was a child of divorce who first went to rehab at age 13, while Will, 46, was from a socially prominent NYC family, his dad the president of Chanel. The actress, 49, admitted that the man who became her third husband appealed to her “pragmatic” side, saying in 2015, “He was someone who was always reachable on the phone, someone who was a classy human being, someone who has this incredible blueprint of a family that I don’t have.” Her own family was illustrious — her grandfather John Barrymore and his siblings, Lionel and Ethel, were silver screen icons — but troubled. John drank himself to death; Drew’s aunt Diana Barrymore abused alcohol and drugs; and her father, John, also battled alcoholism. Drew’s childhood was chaotic, with her mother, Jaid, dragging her to nightclubs when she was still just a child. In her autobiography, Little Girl Lost, the former child star admitted to drinking at just 9 years old, smoking pot at 10, and using cocaine by 12.

After multiple rehab stints, the divorce triggered her. The Charlie’s Angels star told one interviewer that she leaned on alcohol during the “cripplingly difficult” time. “I was just trying to numb the pain and feel good — and alcohol totally did that for me. The drinking thing for me was a constant, like, ‘You cannot change. You are weak and incapable of doing what’s best for you. You keep thinking you will master this thing, and it’s getting the better of you.’”

Ultimately, she got sober by 2019 — and being open about her devastating divorce helped. “Talking about it has been cathartic for Drew,” says the insider. “She hopes that by speaking out she might help other women going through the same thing.” The insider adds, “She’s gotten some great advice that way, too. It’s like free therapy”

A New Life

Ultimately, Drew realized that she needed to stop looking back and start moving forward for the sake of her young family. “After the life I planned for my kids didn’t work out — I almost think that was harder than the stuff [I went through] as a kid. It felt a lot more real because it wasn’t just me. It was about these kids that I cared so much about. And then I probably cared so much that I was only giving to them and not taking care of myself. It was a messy, painful, excruciating ‘walk through the fire and come back to life’ kind of trajectory.”

Now she and Will peacefully coparent. As she said on her show, “We’re stuck together for life. We’ve grown a lot through the last 14 years of our union with our kids.” She’s even dipping her toes back in the dating pool. The insider tells Star, “Drew is finally warming up to the idea of dating and putting herself out there. Her friends have been after her to go out and have a good time for so long — they want her to meet some guys, because fun is not overrated.”