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10 Celebrity Moms Who Got Super Real About Divorce
by Ni'Kesia Pannell

When I was a kid, I didn't understand why my mom wasn't with my biological father. Though it was never really discussed and I don't remember the divorce, I don't really recall ever asking my mom where my dad was or why he wasn't present like some of the other kids I grew up with. It wasn't until I got a little older that my mom told me why and then I got it. With divorce rates being on the rise, reading about celebrity moms who got super real about divorce makes me realize that even celebrities go through some of the same issues that my mom encountered when she was married to my dad.

I've always been a believer in love and marriage, so when I read that some of my favorite stars who seemingly had the perfect love story are now getting a divorce, I get a little sad. To be quite honest, when I read that Hilary Duff was getting a divorce from her husband, I cringed a bit because I really wanted her to have her happily ever after with her family. I believe I relate the feeling of my favorite stars finding their happily ever after to wanting my mom to be super happy with someone when I was younger.

Whether you're going through a divorce, are dealing with the aftermath, or want to help someone else through it, these 10 celeb moms get real about the effects of the big "D" word.

1

Hilary Duff

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During a 2015 with Cosmopolitan, Hilary Duff spoke of her divorce from Mike Comrie. "It wasn't working well enough to stay together, but there was still a lot of love involved," she said. "It was just a slow set-in of us not being the match that we used to be. I'm lucky for the person he is and I am and how we decided to handle this."

2

Katie Holmes

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It hasn't been a secret that Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise haven't had the easiest split, but the former teen actress told People in 2014 that she didn't want the divorce to define her. "I don't want that to be what I'm known as," she said. "I was an actor before, an actor during ,and an actor now."

3

Solange Knowles

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Solange broke headlines in 2004 when she married her high school sweetheart, Daniel Smith, and announced her pregnancy at 17. But in an interview with Harper's Bazaar, Solange said her 2008 divorce has given her such a better perspective on life.

4

Gwen Stefani

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Gwen Stefani told Us Weekly that her life blew up in her face when speaking about her divorce to Gavin Rossdale. She followed by saying she spent a lot of time crying but eventually worked her way through the funk.

5

Kate Hudson

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According to Huffington Post, Kate Hudson said that divorce was the most difficult thing she's ever done in her life. "The process of discovering with somebody that you love that you don’t is so painful," she said. "And thank goodness I did it with Chris... We helped each other through it. Now we’re both single and since the day we separated, we talk multiple times."

6

Reese Witherspoon

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Us Weekly noted that after Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe's marriage ended in the early 2000s, Witherspoon spent a few years "just trying to get better."

7

Britney Spears

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Back in 2008, Britney Spears shocked everyone when she said she felt like she married the father of the two boys, Kevin Federline, for the wrong reasons. "Instead of following my heart and doing something that made me really happy, I just did it for the idea of everything," Daily Mail quoted her saying.

8

Miranda Kerr

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Though Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom's marriage seemed as if it were never going to end, their Kerr said her divorce was for the best in an interview with The EDIT. "Flynn was 2, so it was really hard to make the decision, but our son is our priority so you have to come from love," she said. "You have to be kind. You can't close yourself off from love. I try to keep my heart open and not feel afraid."

9

Jennifer Lopez

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Jennifer Lopez, who married longtime friend Marc Anthony and birthed a set of twins, told Hollywood Life of their 2011 divorce, that she was devastated because her family means so much to her. She went on to say:

I had to figure out what I did wrong that I was in a relationship where I was accepting situations that weren't good for me. If you're allowing yourself to be in a bad relationship, you need to understand why. I had to turn [the breakup] into something better. I thought, 'I don't want to just survive it, I want to come out better.

10

Christina Aguilera

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After her divorce from Jordan Bratman, Christina Aguilera told People that she knew she had to end their marriage. "Things were so unhealthy and unhappy for both Jordan and me, I knew I had to end it," she said. "It wasn't good for us, and it wasn't good for Max to witness our arguments. Children can feel when things aren't right in the home. I had bouts of extreme anxiety. I really didn't want to hurt Jordan, and I felt torn about splitting our family up."