9 Stories That Prove Any Breakup Is Followed by a Big Glow-Up

No matter if it’s divorce or separation from a long-term partner, break-ups are an awful emotional roller coaster. One day you’re feeling on top of the world, and the next day you’re crying in your bed playing back old memories. But despite all that pain, there’s something amazing about our ability to rise from the ashes like a phoenix.

This compilation backs up what most of us already know, every ending is the beginning of something else. So keep reading and make sure not to miss the bonus at the end of the article.

1. Adele

Adele chose to end her marriage to husband Simon Konecki in 2019, after 3 years of marriage and 7 years after welcoming their only son together. The singer explained that she left her marriage to find her own true happiness. “I was just going through the motions, and I wasn’t happy. Neither of us did anything wrong.”

She also added how hard the divorce process was, “The process of arriving for yourself every single day, turning up for yourself every day, and still running a home, running a business, so many people know what I’m talking about, and I felt like not doing it anymore. My feet hurt walking through all that concrete.”

2. Miley Cyrus

Miley and Liam Hemsworth married in 2018. They announced their divorce 7 months later. “We were together since 16,” she said in an interview. “Our house burned down. We had been like, engaged—I don’t know if we really ever thought we were actually going to get married.”

Cyrus also revealed in the interview that the 2 had their private struggles, “There was too much conflict. When I come home, I want to be anchored by someone. I don’t get off on drama or fighting.” The singer finalized, “Sometimes you miss people more than others, and sometimes, things get easier. Time kind of heals all.”

3. Shakira

Though they never married, Shakira and Piqué’s break-up was a surprise to all of us. The 2 were together for 12 years and share 2 children. The iconic singer described this moment as “her darkest hour in life.” She said that her children were a motivation to go through this pain and her mission to be a good example for them no matter how dark times get.

Shakira opened up, “For those women, like me, who believe in values like family, who had the dream, the big dream of having a family forever, to see that dream broken or shredded into pieces is probably one of the most painful things that you can ever go through.” She added, “But I think that women, we are resilient. You know, we have this resiliency that is just innate in all of us. And we are meant to nurture and to take care of those who depend on us.”

4. Emily Ratajkowski

Emily Ratajkowski and Sebastian Bear-McClard divorced after 4 years of marriage amid cheating allegations. The model explained her decision to split up, “I know a lot of people are unhappily married for a long time because they’re so afraid of divorce, and I don’t think that’s a good way to live.”

She also opened up about how hard this process is, “I feel anger, sadness. I feel excitement. I feel joy. I feel levity. Every day is different.” She continued, “The only good thing I know is that I’m feeling all those things, which is nice because it makes me believe that I’ll be ok.”

5. Khloé Kardashian

Their bright relationship earned them their own spin-off show — Khloé and Lamar. But heavy media attention was drawn to Lamar’s accusations of infidelity. Khloé and Lamar Odom finalized their divorce in 2016, 3 years after she originally filed for divorce. The reality star explained, “We paused the divorce, not for any romantic reasons, but I wanted to be able to help take care of him and make sure that he would be ok again.”

Khloé clearly let this relationship go, despite her ex-husband’s heartwarming comments, “I do miss her and her family dearly. Even just to her family, I am sorry I let them down. They had so much faith in me and gave me my own nickname Lammy. I would do anything to make up for it.”

6. Katy Perry

Now Katy is happily married to Orlando Bloom, calling their relationship, “a healthy frictional, very open, very communicative, nothing is swept under the mat type of relationship.” But her first marriage was quite the opposite.

Katy Perry opened up about her marriage to Russell Brand saying, “I met someone that was interesting and stimulating. It was just like a tornado, it was everything happening at once.” She also described the relationship as the first breaking of her idealistic mind, “Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me.”

7. Megan Fox

In the past 2 years, we’ve seen the bright rebirth of this star. Every red carpet she steps on, and every outfit she wears generates headlines. Megan admitted that the change was due to her divorce, “I had this incredible breakthrough, and I realized that I had been living in a self-imposed prison for so long because I let other people tell me who I was or what I wasn’t. I hid because I was hurt.”

And the actress made a promise to herself, “I promised myself that I would never live one more day of my life from fear. I came home, and my whole life changed. I got a divorce and I started working more and doing more things.”

8. Hilary Duff

After 4 years of marriage — and the birth of one child, Luca — Hilary Duff and Mike Comrie decided to divorce. The Disney star explained this decision saying, “I think that I was in a very successful marriage for a long time.”

She added, “We got together based on love, and we separated in a very loving way. I can’t imagine going through that process with anyone but him, and he continues to be my very good friend. That’s honestly speaking from my heart. So, I think we handled it very consciously and with a lot of love.”

9. Kaley Cuoco

The Big Bang Theory star confessed that going through her divorce from ex-husband Karl Cook, “was really a super dark time. I just didn’t know how to deal with it.” Cuoco decided to seek therapy for the first time. “It was horrible. And I developed a stress rash that ran all the way down my body for 3 straight months that wouldn’t go away.”

She also asked her good friend and fellow actress from The Flight Attendant, Zosia Mamet, to move in with her, explaining “I really needed someone with me. I was really losing my mind.” Later the actress admitted that she, “will never get married again.” She explained, “I would love to have a long-lasting relationship or a partnership. But I will never get married again. Absolutely not.”

Bonus: A psychologist reveals simple tips to get over a breakup:

• Don’t grieve alone. Losing a relationship can feel almost like a death of the relationship. We were not meant to grieve alone, so consider making sure that you’re always with a supportive friend or family member for the first week or 2.
• Experience healthy touch. Our bodies actually acclimate to certain frequencies of touch, so a breakup can feel like a double whammy. We are losing emotional support and simultaneously experiencing a dramatic decrease in the amount of physical affection we receive. While a massage certainly isn’t the same, it can help your body/mind to at least experience positive touch.
• Open your eyes. We sometimes view our exes with rose-colored glasses, which can make it harder to move on. You may want to make a list of the top 5 times that your ex hurt or disappointed you, or other negative points that may help you to realize that, in fact, this person is by no means perfect.
• Fill your brain with new experiences. Part of why breakups can be so painful is that we may feel that everything in our current environment reminds us of our ex. One way to change this is to deliberately create new experiences to help the old memories start to recede. New experiences can also subtly reassure us that there are other possibilities in life.
• Remember your last ex. If you’re feeling like you’ll “never get over” your current breakup, it can be helpful to remember previous breakups where you may have felt the same. Take refuge in knowing that you’ll likely move forward and meet another person who you may like even better than your ex one day, even if that seems as impossible now as it did to your high school self years ago.