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Drew Barrymore’s Split From Will Kopelman Makes Her ‘Feel Like a Failure’

Married life helped Drew Barrymore master the art of compromise. “We know each other very well and we know what our likes and dislikes are and what works and doesn’t work,” the actress, 41, explained to Us Weekly at a Shutterfly event last November of her relationship with art consultant husband Will Kopelman. “We have to change for the better to grow as a couple.”

Related: PHOTOS: Drew Barrymore's Happy Family

Now they’re just growing apart. In the new issue of Us Weekly, a source says the pair’s decision to separate just two months shy of their fourth wedding anniversary is devastating to Barrymore. Already a two-time divorcée (at 19, she had a two-month marriage to then–31-year-old bar owner Jeremy Thomas, and she was wed to comedian Tom Green for five months in 2001), “she feels like a failure,” says the source.

Echoes another friend close to the parents of daughters Olive, 3, and Frankie, 23 months: “She’s disappointed this didn’t work. They both expected to be together forever.”

Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman
Will Kopelman and Drew Barrymore

But ultimately, the pair, who started dating in 2011, couldn’t overcome their differences. Former child star Barrymore — who spent her adolescence doing cocaine in the bathrooms of NYC clubs and became an emancipated minor at age 14 — and Kopelman, the 38-year-old straight-laced Connecticut boarding school grad and son of former Chanel CEO Arie and his bride, Coco, “are total opposites,” says the source. “Things began crumbling shortly after they were married and the relationship unraveled over time.”

Related: PHOTOS: Celebrity Splits of 2015

For a while, Barrymore did her best to embody her new role as Mrs. Kopelman. She moved into a Park Avenue duplex and ditched the slip dresses and Birkenstocks of her youth for refined Chanel fashions. “I’m much more conservative now,” she explained to Us at a July 2015 Flower beauty and eyewear launch. “I love how traditional I have become.”

Related: PHOTOS: Hollywood's Ugliest Divorces

Over time, though, acting the part became tough for the Flower beauty line and Barrymore Wines founder. Says another Barrymore insider, “Will is this great guy from a stable family and everything she didn’t have growing up, but it just wasn’t making her happy.”

For more on the pair’s decision to split — and their plans to coparent their daughters — pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now! 

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