Drew Barrymore says she drank to 'numb the pain' of her divorce and walked 'through the fire' to get sober

• Drew Barrymore told People she drank to cope with her 2016 divorce.
• She said she felt like she walked "through the fire" to get sober.

In a recent interview with People, Drew Barrymore admitted that she relapsed on alcohol when she divorced her ex-husband Will Kopelman in 2016. She said she felt like she walked "through the fire" to "come back to life" for their daughters, Frankie and Olive, who are now eight and 10 years old, respectively.

The talk show host began dating the art advisor in 2011 and they married in an intimate ceremony at their home in June 2012, People reported. They welcomed Olive in September of that year and Frankie in April 2014. They announced their divorce two years later and finalized it in months.

"Sadly, our family is separating legally, although we do not feel this takes away from us being a family. Divorce might make one feel like a failure, but eventually, you start to find grace in the idea that life goes on," their joint statement about the legal divorce read in August 2016.

Barrymore confirmed to People in her latest interview that there was no "scandal" involved in her and Kopelman's decision to divorce, but said that this made the end of her marriage "harder and more confusing" to process.

She moved to New York to be closer to Kopelman for her daughters but said she found the years after her divorce to be "cripplingly difficult" to handle.

The actor revealed that she "broke" and drank to cope with her new reality. "It was just trying to numb the pain and feel good—and alcohol totally did that for me," she admitted.

Barrymore grew up in a family of famous actors, including her parents John and Jaid Barrymore. Life in the entertainment business was a natural step for her — her first hit movie, "E.T.," was released when she was only seven years old.

But working in the industry also exposed her to unhealthy adult habits like drugs and alcohol at a young age. Barrymore has been open about her addictions in the past. By 14, she had already been to rehab for drugs and alcohol twice and got emancipated from her mother after Jaid institutionalized her, according to an interview she gave The Guardian in 2015.

In 2021, she revealed she had been sober from alcohol for two years during an interview with Machine Gun Kelly on her talk show, "The Drew Barrymore Show."

Barrymore told People in her December 2022 interview that though she beat her drug addiction when she was younger, drinking had remained "a constant" for her.

"You cannot change. You are weak and incapable of doing what's best for you," she would tell herself. "You keep thinking you will master this thing, and it's getting the better of you."

The "Never Been Kissed" star confessed that she felt like her divorce was more difficult for her than all of the struggles she went through as a kid because of how much she cares about her daughters.

"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," Barrymore admitted.

She said that her quest to be better for her kids drove her to go to therapy and quit drinking. She also credits her show for giving her something to "pour myself into."

The producer admitted that she still struggles to juggle all of the hats she wears in life. "Balance is an elusive bitch that haunts me. I would love to find that in my 50s."

She said she dates sometimes but is grateful that Kopelman married Vogue fashion director Alexandra Michler in August 2021.

"These kids have an example of one of the parents moving on and rebuilding another life for themselves. I'm like, 'Oh, I don't have to do that now? Perfect,'" she joked.