19 Movies and TV Series Portraying Life After Divorce That One Can Easily Connect With
Divorce has become a recurring feature in the entertainment industry.
Divorce is common and has been for a really long time in the Western world. Obviously, it has become a recurring feature in the entertainment industry.
Divorce has been discussed, chronicled, and analyzed numerous times in films and television shows. We don't just see the divorce proceedings; we also read stories about what life is like after a relationship ends.
It makes sense because most individuals have entire lives to live after their divorce cases are concluded. Trying to deal with the emotional strain from a breakup is often the most difficult part of the process.
While many people feel isolated and lonely, others face the jumble of starting over professionally, romantically, and potentially even having to make all new friends. Almost all of these topics have been captured in a TV series or a movie.
We want to watch movies to which we can connect and that make us feel better about life; it's healing. For many people, it's essentially what they want and need to feel more "normal" after pushing through such a significant change in life.
These films will make you smile and cry while also trying to remind you that you, too, will eventually move on with your life following your divorce. Keep calm and relax; we've compiled a list of 19 movies and shows about life after divorce that you'll be able to relate to.
1. It's Complicated
It features Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, who are divorced but reignite their physical relationship after they meet up at their son's college graduation. People can be attracted to each other, and it is possible for those feelings to come back, making things really complicated.
estapeli2. The First Wives Club
The 1996 film stars Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler as three divorced women who discover that each of their husbands abandoned them for younger women. They vow to get their revenge on them.
firstwives.club3. How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Angela Bassett plays a successful woman who gets divorced and goes on a luxury vacation to Jamaica. There, she enters into a steamy romance with a much younger man who reawakens her libido, allowing her to see herself as the gorgeous woman she once was.
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4. Stepmom
It stars Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts, and it’s about a divorced woman who discovers she's terminally ill. She is forced to see her ex-husband's much younger fiancée as the person who will someday be her children's mother figure.
It’s kind of painful to watch, but reassuring as well.
Columbia Pictures
5. Under the Tuscan Sun
It features Diane Lane, who starts over after a divorce. The reality is that it might take some significant changes just to build a new and more independent life after leaving a marriage.
Franco Biciocchi/Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
6. Crazy, Stupid, Love
This rom-com shows an aging and divorced man, played by funnyman Steve Carell. He is a man who was not prepared when his marriage fell apart and is now fighting to navigate a new and different dating scenario.
Warner Bros
7. Grace and Frankie
This sitcom stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as older women who unexpectedly discover that their husbands are gay and have been dating each other for decades. Though the two women had been frenemies, they are now brought together by their unusual mutual experience.
Netflix
8. Hope Floats
The rom-com stars Sandra Bullock and is about a newly divorced woman who returns to her hometown to start over after her best friend confesses on live TV that she has been having an affair with her husband. Eventually, she starts seeing a man whom her young daughter does not like.
Getty Images
9. Waiting To Exhale
When the car was set on fire, Bernie lived out the fantasy of every woman who has ever been wronged by the opposite gender. The movie centers on four different Black women, but here, Bernie gave up her career and ambitions to support her husband, only for him to drift to another woman.
Twentieth Century Fox
10. One Day at a Time
This sitcom is about a divorced Cuban-American woman who ends up living with her traditional mother so that she can help raise her two kids while she works as a nurse. It perfectly sums up the struggles of a new single mom.
Mike Yarish/Netflix
11. The War of the Roses
The film stars Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, and it’s about a divorcing couple who cannot reach a common ground regarding the divorce settlement. The major standoff occurs when both refuse to vacate the home they've shared for years.
20th Century Fox
12. Life of the Party
The movie stars Melissa McCarthy as a divorced woman who decides to go back to school and finish her degree. She enrolls in her daughter’s school, and they even share a class! Her daughter isn't mad, but it does not help that her mom is trying to embrace the school experience she left years ago.
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13. The New Adventures of Old Christine
This sitcom features a divorced woman who struggles to meet the demands of being a single mom while trying to remain friends with her ex-husband, who has clearly moved on with a woman who shares her name.
Robert Voets/CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images
14. Enough Said
Starring James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, this story follows a divorced woman who finally meets a man she believes she can start over with. Then, she discovers that he's the ex-husband of a new friend of hers.
Fox Searchlight Pictures
15. Sisters
The hilarious movie stars Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as two sisters. One is recently divorced, and they have to clean out their parents' house before it's sold, so they decide to throw one last party with old friends.
Universal Picturas
16. Marriage Story
This drama shows a divorced stage director and his actor wife, who live on separate coasts. They try to overcome the challenges of their split, as it has affected everything, and all they want is to get through it.
Netflix
17. Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce
This hilarious show is about a self-help author who hides the fact that she’s divorced because she believes it will affect her credibility. However, she doesn't realize how hard it will be to start afresh without revealing her status.
Bravo
18. Eat Pray Love
It is based on the author's memoir, detailing how she left her marriage to pursue personal fulfillment by discovering who she really is and what she wants.
François Duhamel/CTMG, Inc.
19. Divorce
It stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church, and Molly Shannon. It is about a middle-aged couple going through a long and difficult divorce.
They can’t stand each other, resulting in some super funny and awkward situations.
These movies have shown us that life doesn’t end after a divorce; in fact, where a door to a relationship closes, another one opens for a new love life entirely. Regardless of what happened in the past, we cannot afford to let it negatively shape our current and future lives.
What are your thoughts about our list and life after divorce in general? Let us know in the comments section below.
