Drew Barrymore had ‘nice long, juicy’ breakdown after third divorce

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Drew Barrymore struggled through a “nice long, juicy” breakdown after her third divorce – but now embraces the “messiness” of her life.

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The actress and talk show host divorced her third husband, Will Kopelman, dad to the former couple’s daughters Olive, 9, and 7-year-old Frankie, in 2016 – and reveals the split left her “broken”.

And though her previous two marriages – to bar owner Jeremy Thomas and comedian Tom Green – also ended in divorce, she wanted to be sure her own children never experienced an upbringing like her own.

“I didn’t have parents. I was the ‘parent’ to them. It was all totally upside down. So I didn’t know what I was doing,” she tells the Mail on Sunday’s You Magazine of growing up with mum Jaid and her late father John Barrymore.

“Divorce was my worst fear,” she adds. “It was something I never wanted to put my own children through.”

But after trying everything to salvage her relationship with Kopelman, the host of The Drew Barrymore Show felt terrible.

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“I felt broken. Truly, honestly broken,” she shares, admitting she’s so glad she made some changes before the COVID crisis hit, because she fears “the place” she may have found herself in otherwise.

“I made some big, sweeping changes to my life and luckily I made them right before the pandemic because I fear the place I would have been in if I hadn’t. I just about managed to hold the nose of the plane up before it crashed and then the pandemic hit.”

When asked if she was heading for a nervous breakdown, she admits, “I think I had one, a nice long, juicy one.

“You have to believe during this rollercoaster of life that you will get back up, but there was something very high stakes about this as my children were involved. Being a parent is the most important thing, but raising babies is terrifying and exciting and very hard.”

She confesses she’ll never be a “perfect” parent but wants to be open about the challenges of being a single working mother.

“I’m unguarded because I don’t want to come across as someone who has their s**t together. I’m not a total clown but I don’t relate to people who glide through life or parenting,” she insists.

“I relate to struggle, conquering it, the humour, the messiness of life. I can’t stand fakeness.”