Drew Barrymore went the distance in healing after her divorce from Will Kopelman.
The talk show host recently reflected on her 2016 divorce from the art director—with whom she shares daughters Olive, 10 and Frankie 8, with—explaining how the end to her 4-year marriage was a difficult chapter in her life.
"There was no scandal," she told People Dec. 29. "Nothing went wrong, which is cleaner, but makes it harder and more confusing because there isn't the thing to point to. We tried so hard to make it work."
The 47-year-old continued, "[A friend] said to me, 'Divorce is the death of a dream.' That's exactly what it feels like, something so final you can't get it back.
But despite the divorce, the Charlie's Angels actress explained how she worked to maintain a sense of normalcy for her daughters, looking at her own upbringing—she was emancipated from her parents at 14—had her vowing to give her kids a different experience.
"I know what that feels like," Drew said. "If I haven't learned from that, then what was it all for? This is a family, so nobody's going anywhere. I was determined to make it work because we all loved each other so much."
And although she was determined to keep the family together in a new capacity, she called the years to follow "cripplingly difficult," noting that the first winter after leaving California for New York—to be closer to Will's family—was particularly rough.
"It just took me down," Drew shared. "There are times where you can look at someone you think is a strong person and see them so broken and go, 'How the f--k did they get there?' And I was that person. I broke."
However, the Santa Clarita Diet star admitted to not having the best coping mechanisms at the time.
"It was just trying to numb the pain and feel good—and alcohol totally did that for me," Drew recalled. "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.'
But after spending time in therapy and quitting drinking, she put her focus into creating The Drew Barrymore Show which is currently in its third season.
"It was my kids that made me feel like it's game time," she revealed, adding that developing the talk show "gave me something to focus on and pour myself into. It gave us something to believe in."