Drew Barrymore Opens Up About Co-parenting Difficulties With Ex-husband Will Kopelman

co-parenting Co-Parenting Difficulties drew barrymore will kopelman Alexandra Michler

By Joel Brussels , Parent Herald Mar 16, 12:39 am

Photo: (Photo : Craig Barritt/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)

Drew Barrymore opened up about the co-parenting difficulties she has been experiencing with her ex-husband Will Kopelman in a recent interview with Parents magazine. The Hollywood actress discussed in detail the challenges of raising her two little daughters as a single mother and the heartbreak that comes with joint custody.

Barrymore told the magazine that the most challenging part of co-parenting, in her opinion, is missing her girls when they are apart because that was not the plan. The 47-year-old screen star shares two daughters with Kopelman: Olive, who is nine years old, and Frankie, who is now seven.

Barrymore acknowledged, however, that there is an upside in co-parenting too. According to Barrymore, the good thing about co-parenting is that both parents get a day off when it comes to their parenting duties.

Barrymore shares co-parenting wins and misses

According to E! News, Barrymore gave glimpses of her family's private world throughout the interview, even sharing some recent wins and misses in her parenting journey. Barrymore beamed as she talked about how she got her daughter Olive to help loading and unloading the dishwasher.

When talking about a recent parenting miss, Barrymore shared that she lost it when her eldest child Olive tried to tell her how to drive. Barrymore also divulged which of her movies her children are allowed to see, with "Ever After: A Cinderella Story" and "50 First Dates" the films they have already seen. Barrymore added that she is holding off showing "Scream" to her daughters until they are old enough.

Barrymore and Kopelman captured the imagination of Hollywood fans when they tied the knot in a small, private ceremony on the actress' sprawling estate in Montecito, California, back in 2012. Their union did not last long, though, as Barrymore and Kopelman divorced four years later in 2016.

Co-parenting difficulties ease with the arrival of Michler

They released a joint statement to People magazine at the time, saying, "Sadly, our family is separating legally, although we do not feel this takes away from us being a family." They noted that divorce might make them feel like a failure, but eventually, they will start to find grace in the idea that life goes on.

Barrymore and Kopelman added that their children are their universe, and they look forward to living the rest of their lives with them as the first priority. Since their divorce in 2016, a lot has changed, with Kopelman now remarried. In August of last year, he tied the knot with Vogue's director of fashion initiatives Alexandra Michler. There is no friction between Barrymore and Michler as they were seen alongside Kopelman taking the kids trick-or-treating last Halloween.

That has made co-parenting easier for Barrymore. In an interview, she paid tribute to Michler, saying that her kids' father is happily remarried to the most wonderful woman in the world and that her children have an extraordinary stepmother.