Drew Barrymore says her third divorce is her "biggest failure."

Drew Barrymore says she’s sad and disappointed over the breakdown of her marriage to husband of three years, actor Will Kopelman however the support of the strong women in her life is helping her get through.

Barrymore, 41 and Kopelman, 38 announced their divorce earlier this year. They were married for three years and have two daughters together – Olive, three and Frankie, one.

She appeared on Chelsea Handler’s new Netflix show Chelsea, saying her third divorce has left her feeling like a “failure”. Handler reminded her that she is someone that “everyone is rooting for”, which brought instant tears to the actresses eyes.

“This is the biggest failure,” she said. “It’s so shameful and hard to actually go through that, even privately.”

Barrymore says she wanted to use the word "failure" in the official statement because she wanted to humanise it. She said, "It's [divorce} like you're being put on a cheese grater every second going, 'Ah, this wasn't the plan'."

However she was quick to explain that with the pain comes the positive with everyone being "so cool and chill and nice about everything", helping her to quell her own demons about the painful things in life.

She said, "If anybody roots for me...it's because they feel how much I root for them 'cause that is how I live my life. I'm only happiest when other people are happy and when they feel supported and loved...".

Handler then suggested Barrymore have lots of sexual encounters to help her heal, saying that had worked for her in the past after her own breakups and Barrymore said her friend had already taken her through a dating app but the actress was quick to quash that.

When you knew your relationship was over. Article continues after this video.

"What I do want is girlfriend time," she said. "I've never been not a cheerleader for women my whole life and it's ironic I have two daughters because I'm like, 'Oh my God, of course, I'm meant to be in this world and on this planet raising two beautiful girls into hopefully great women."

She then said every path in her life has been paved by women. "I love women, they're awesome."

Barrymore and Kopelman announced their split in early April and released an official statement a day later.

Sadly our family is separating legally, although we do not feel this takes away from us being a family.

Divorce might make one feel like a failure, but eventually you start to find grace in the idea that life goes on. Our children are our universe, and we look forward to living the rest of our lives with them as the first priority.

Barrymore's closest female friends include Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Ellen DeGeneres and Chelsea Handler.