Mandy Moore knows she’s grown a lot since she and ex-husband Ryan Adams called it quits.
“It’s so weird because I think back to that chapter and it almost feels like it was someone else entirely that it happened to because I’m in such a different place in my life,” Moore, 39, said on the Monday, February 6, episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s On Me” podcast. “I’m married and I have children and it’s almost like, how did I ever do that? How did I ever find myself in that place where I allowed myself to be treated that way [and] that I viewed myself that way?”
The singer explained that when she was younger she would make others around her feel “as comfortable as possible” but ended up “belittling” herself in the process. While Moore continued her people-pleasing tendencies in her first marriage, the relationship turned “very unhealthy” for her. As Moore grew older and wiser, she dropped those habits.
“That’s an entirely different person [that] I don’t recognize, I don’t relate to [her] at all,” she reflected. “I can’t even put myself in those shoes again, it’s strange.”
Adams, now 49, and Moore tied the knot in 2009 after dating for nearly a year. The actress confessed on Monday that she was “very young” when she ultimately decided to get married at age 24 and her parents’ decision to divorce influenced her desire to settle down.
“I was so heartbroken [over my parents] and I believe that I found myself in a relationship with somebody that I was like, ‘Oh, I can, I can make a family with this person for this person.’” she explained. “And it just was obviously not the right situation by any means.”
Moore shared that she wholeheartedly believed it was an “appropriate time” for her to begin a “quiet chapter” in her life. However, for Moore, the relationship ended up making her feel “really hollow” and “empty.”
In January 2015, Moore filed for divorce from Adams after six years of marriage. The pair finalized their split the following year. Moore’s first marriage wasn’t the greatest time in her life, but she is appreciative of how she transformed from it and how it led her to finally find The One, her current husband Taylor Goldsmith.
“I’m so grateful for that experience,” she said on Monday. “I’m grateful for all it taught me and where it brought me and ultimately it led me to finding this incredible partner.”
Goldsmith, 38, and Moore wed in 2018. The couple share sons Gus and Ozzie, whom they welcomed in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
