Drew Barrymore has struggled with addiction at various points in her life. She was in rehab as a young teen, but most recently, she struggled with alcohol after her divorce from her third husband, Will Kopelman. The couple divorced in 2016. They had two children together.

Actress Cameron Diaz is a long time friend of Barrymore. The two first met when Barrymore was just 14 years old, and it was “difficult to watch” Barrymore’s life when she was abusing alcohol. Diaz explained, “I knew that if we all stuck with her and gave her the support she needed, she would find her way.” She added, “I have absolute faith in her. You can’t even comprehend how hard it was to be her as a child, and then she shot out the other end with the ability to save herself.”

Barrymore turned to alcohol as a “way to feel good” after her divorce. She told PEOPLE that a friend told her, “Divorce is the death of a dream.” Barrymore agrees with that thought adding, “That’s exactly what it feels like, something so final you can’t get it back.” She also struggled with thoughts of not being about to give her children she dream life she had imagined for them. She said, “I was determined to make it work because we all loved each other so much.”

In order to “numb” the pain, Barrymore drank. She said, “It was just trying to numb the pain and feel good—and alcohol totally did that for me.” She added, “After the life I planned for my kids didn’t work out — I almost think that was harder than the stuff [I went through] as a kid. It felt a lot more real because it wasn’t just me. It was about these kids that I cared so much about. And then 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.”

Eventually, Barrymore turned to therapy to cope with her divorce, and she stopped drinking. She decided to get sober for her kids.

Learn more about Barrymore’s struggle with alcohol in the video below.