19 Movies and TV Series Portraying Life After Divorce That One Can Easily Connect With

Divorce become a recurring feature in the entertainment industry.

Maryjane

• Published in Film & TV
• June 25, 2022

Divorce is common and has been for a really long period of time in the Western world. Obviously, it's 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 also 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 are faced with the jumble of starting over professionally, romantically, and potentially even having to make all new friends. Well, 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 which make us feel better about life; it's healing. And for many people, it's essentially what they want and needs 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 still reignited their physical relationship after they met up at their son's college graduation. People can get attracted to each other and it is possible for those feelings to come back and make things really complicated.

2. The First Wives Club

The 1996 film stars Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler are three divorced women who discovered that each of their husbands abandoned them for younger women. Then, they vowed to get their revenge on them.

3. How Stella Got Her Groove Back

Angela Bassett plays a successful woman who got divorced and goes on a luxury vacation to Jamaica. There, she gets into a steamy romance with a much younger guy who reawakens her libido and she started to see herself as the gorgeous woman she once was.

4. Stepmom

It stars Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts and it’s about a divorced woman who discovered 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.

5. Under the Tuscan Sun

It features Diane Lane who starts over again after a divorce. The reality is that it might take some huge changes just to build a new and more independent life after you've left a marriage.

6. Crazy, Stupid, Love

This rom-com shows an aging and divorced guy acted by funnyman Steve Carell. He is a man who was not prepared when his marriage fell apart, and is now fighting to get into a new and different dating scenario.

7. Grace and Frankie

This sitcom stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin who are older women who unexpectedly discovers that their husbands are gay and that they have been dating each other for decades. Though the two women had been frenemies, they are now brought together by their unusual mutual experience.

8. Hope Floats

The rom-com stars Sandra Bullock and it’s all about a newly divorced woman who goes back to her hometown just to start over after her best friend confessed on live TV that she's been in an affair with her husband. Eventually, she starts seeing a man who her young daughter doesn't like.

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 just to support her husband, only for him to drift to another woman.

10. One Day at a Time

This sitcom is about a divorced Cuban-American woman who ends up residing with her traditional mom so that she can help raise her two kids while she works as a nurse. It perfectly sums up the new single mom struggles.

11. The War of the Roses

The film stars Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas and it’s about a divorcing couple who could not reach a common ground about the divorce settlement. The major standoff was when both refused to vacate the home they've shared for years.

12. Life of the Party

The movie stars Melissa McCarthy who is a divorced woman who decided to go back to school and finish her degree. She enrolled in her daughter’s school and both even share a class! Her daughter isn't mad and it did not help that her mom is trying to embrace the school experience she left years ago.

13. The New Adventures of Old Christine

This sitcom shows a divorced woman who struggles to cater to the single mom demands, while trying to still be friends with her ex-husband, who has clearly moved on with a woman who shares her name.

14. Enough Said

Starring James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the story of a divorced woman who finally gets a man she believes she can start over with. Then, she discovers that he's the ex-husband of a new friend of hers.

15. Sisters

The hilarious movie stars Amy Poehler and Tina Fey who are two sisters. One is recently divorced and they have to clean out their parents' house before it's sold, so they decided to throw one last party with old friends.

16. Marriage Story

The drama shows a divorced stage director and his actor-wife, who live on separate coasts. They try to overcome the challenges of their split up as it has affected everything and all they want is to get through it.

17. Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce

This hilarious show is all about a self-help author who hides the fact that she’s divorced because she believes it will affect her credibility. But, she doesn't know how hard it will be starting afresh without revealing her status.

18. Eat Pray Love

It is based on the author's memoir, detailing how she left her marriage to chase personal fulfillment by finding out who she really is and what she wants.

19. Divorce

It stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church, and Molly Shannon. It is about a middle-aged couple who are going through a long and hard divorce.

They can’t stand each other, resulting to some super funny and beyond 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 shape our current and future lives negatively.

What are your thoughts about our list and life after divorce in general? Let us know in the comments section below.

Maryjane