Drew Barrymore Reflects on Divorce, Break from Acting: ‘My Dream Family Was Falling Apart’

Drew Barrymore is looking back on her divorce from ex Will Kopelman.

The Charlie’s Angels star, 49, said she put her acting career on hold to focus on her two daughters, Olive, 12, and Frankie, 9, after separating from Kopelman in 2016.

“My dream family was falling apart and I didn’t know how to put one foot in front of the other,” Barrymore reflected on her divorce in the latest issue of AARP The Magazine. “And I had grown up so fast but now I didn’t know what age to feel — I just knew that my life was heavy, and painful and sad — and I sat in that for a while.”

“Eventually, thank goodness, I lifted myself out of it. I had two kids and I had to figure it out,” she added.

The Santa Clarita Diet actress explained that amid her tough separation, she wanted to be a “dream” parent to her daughters, so she took a step back from acting.

“I was in my early 40s, and not learning how to be my own healthy, independent individual, how to be the parent I dream to be,” Barrymore said. “Being other people doesn’t help me figure that out right now. And the long hours of doing films were hours I wouldn’t have with my kids. I wasn’t going to do that.”

Barrymore has hosted her own daytime talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, since 2020. Last year, the show was picked up for a sixth season, which came as a huge relief for the star.

“The way it looks on the outside, it was an intimidating time. It was an intimidating job and there’s just no guarantees,” Barrymore told Us Weekly of her talk show in August 2024. “I really did not think at certain points that we would ever get here. And so, it is such a gift to everyone doing the show because then they know they have some job certainty. We’re not going year to year.”

Calling her eponymous talk show “the biggest gift,” Barrymore added: “It gives us a huge sigh of relief. … This is the nicest, coziest, best gift to everyone making the show that we get to stay. And a lot of these jobs just don’t make it this far and there are no guarantees, so this isn’t like, ‘Oh yeah!’ It’s like, ‘Oh, thank goodness!’ This is such a gift and a privilege that I don’t take one thing for granted and I’m really excited for everyone who works on the show to take a sigh of big relief.”

The Drew Barrymore Show premiered amid the COVID-19 pandemic, something Barrymore said helped her and the show’s crew learn on the fly. “Years one and years two, you’re calling people going, ‘Don’t take another job. I believe we’re going to get another year,’ and then, they’re like, ‘Oh, we’re not certain,’” she explained, adding that as a producer, it’s her job to be “concerned” about the crew’s livelihood.