What Drew Barrymore's Relationship With Her Ex-Husband, Will Kopelman, Is REALLY Like
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Drew Barrymore married art consultant Will Kopelman in June 2012, when the couple was expecting their first child together.
Drew and Will have two daughters: Olive and Frankie.
The couple is now divorced, but continue to co-parent their children together.
We've known Santa Clarita Diet and The World's Best star Drew Barrymore ever since she was just 7 years old, when she played little Gertie in the now-classic E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. Today, her daughters Olive and Frankie are almost the same age she was when she first became a household name, but you won't see Drew pushing her girls into the spotlight — in fact, she often keeps them out of the public eye entirely. Here, we take a rare look at what Drew's relationship with her girls is really like.
June 2012: Drew and Will Kopelman get married.
After about a year and a half of dating, Drew Barrymore and art consultant Will Kopelman, then 37 and 33, tied the knot in a small backyard ceremony at her Montecito, California, home. When People released exclusive photos from the star-studded event a few days later, fans got a glimpse of Drew's gorgeous Chanel wedding gown ... but what really piqued their interest was something else entirely: The feature confirmed swirling rumors that Drew was pregnant, and the couple was expecting their first child.
Drew had previously been married to Los Angeles bar owner Jeremy Thomas and comedian Tom Green, but she hadn't had any children. That wasn't for not wanting kids of her own, however: "I definitely feel the beginnings of a tick-tock," she told People in 2006. "Whether I have children or adopt, whatever form a family comes in, I would absolutely love to have it."
September 2012: Drew gives birth to the couple's first child.
On September 26, 2012, Drew and Will welcomed their oldest daughter, Olive Barrymore Kopelman. Now 6, Olive lives and goes to school in New York City and loves joining her mom on the job when she can.
April 2014: They welcome their second daughter, Frankie.
Frankie Barrymore Kopelman was born on April 22, 2014. Drew and Will's second and youngest child, Frankie is now 4 and also lives in New York City.
Drew famously had a less-than-great relationship with her own parents (as she describes in her two memoirs, Little Girl Lost and Wildflower). In a February 2018 interview with Ellen Degeneres, however, she talked about how having two daughters of her own helped her to put her issues with her own mother aside and form meaningful connections with her girls: "[When Frankie was born,] I thought, 'Oh, I realize I was put on this planet to be a good woman so I could raise good women,'" she said.
April 2016: Drew and Will release a statement confirming their plans to divorce.
Two years after they welcomed their youngest daughter, Drew and Will released an exclusive statement to People announcing their plans to divorce. Still, they kept the integrity of their family at the forefront:
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. Our children are our universe, and we look forward to living the rest of our lives with them as the first priority.
Today: The exes work together to co-parent their girls.
Olive and Frankie live primarily with their father in New York, but Drew travels back and forth between the East and West coasts to spend as much time with them as possible. The exes have been spotted doing everything from taking their girls on vacation together to going on family outings to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade — and ever since their public divorce, Drew has been incredibly open about the way that they're approaching their relationships with each other and with their children.
"I so wanted to raise kids in this ultra-traditional way and do everything so the polar opposite of my experience," she said during an appearance on The Ellen Show in February 2017. "You can talk until you’re blue in the face, but kids watch what you do every single day of your life, all day long, and that behavior and that example and that love and community and honesty is what's making everything feel safe for my kids."
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