Going through a divorce is hard for anyone, no matter who you are. Drew Barrymore recently opened up about what it was like going through her divorce with now ex-husband Will Kopelman during the filming of her new show “Santa Clarita Diet,” which is currently on Netflix.
She told People recently that filming the show helped her, as the character she was playing was also going through an awakening:
“I think this woman is going through an awakening … I loved getting to have that outlet. It was a safe place for me to spend my summer while my whole life was just sort of falling apart,” she said. ” I was just in a really low point and I read the script and it made me laugh and it made me feel something. It took me out of my own world that wasn’t super pleasant at the time and I thought, ‘Maybe other people wanna be take out of their unpleasant times and be transported into something that’s cool and different.’”
Barrymore and her husband separated back in early April 2016 after four years of marriage. The couple co-parent their daughters Olive, 4, and Frankie, 2. Even though Barrymore and her character had major differences, she appreciated learning how change doesn’t mean that you have to fall apart completely, stating:
“I really was excited about playing a woman who was becoming empowered, losing weight, pulling her s— together. Finding that when your life really does fall apart, you don’t ditch everything in it,” Barrymore said. “You have to become you and take all the wonderful things in it and just find these new roads. And for me, it was a total metaphor for my life. I felt really lucky. And I hadn’t been working for years.”
Barrymore also explained how the show was a good distraction for her during a rough time:
“I was a mom who was raising her kids and I stepped aside and put everything on the back burner. I did like two movies in eight years, I just wasn’t participating in a lot of aspects so this to me was such a lucky fortunate thing.
Timing is everything; it’s the next tattoo I want to get. This took me out of my s— and made me a happier person.”
While most of us are not celebrities or working in show business, we can all appreciate the ability to surround ourselves with people and projects that make us learn more about ourselves and occupy our time in healthy ways. While we shouldn’t unhealthily distract ourselves from our problems, it can be helpful to pick up new routines and passions in order to grow after a major life change.
