Nearly 20 years after ending her engagement to Ryan Reynolds, singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette is looking back on one of the difficult periods of her life. The Grammy-winning singer recently revisited the fallout from their 2007 split while discussing a viral 2008 interview with Howard Stern, wherein she was repeatedly questioned about her heartbreak and private life. On the time, Alanis Morissette admitted she was scuffling with the breakup and later revealed she attended therapy sessions five times per week as she worked through the emotional aftermath.
Talking to The Sunday Times Style, Morissette reflected on how she now views the interview that resurfaced on social media years later. “It felt like the continuing normalization of me being invisible,” she said.
The “Ironic” singer added that she would respond much in a different way if confronted with similar questions today. “I even have one million questions I could ask back that may be equally inappropriate,” Morissette explained. “It just became normalized to harm women each day, call her a b-tch, tell her she’s a sl-t.”
A Viral Interview Captured The Raw Aftermath Of The Breakup
In clips from the 2008 interview that recently gained traction on TikTok, Morissette discussed how the breakup influenced her music while attempting to avoid commenting extensively on Reynolds.
When Stern brought up reports that she had attended therapy five times per week after the split, Morissette redirected the main target away from her former fiancé. “Therapy’s not in regards to the guy,” she said. “It’s about me. It’s not in regards to the guy.”
She also declined to take a position about Reynolds’ personal life after Stern questioned her about his relationship with Scarlett Johansson, whom he began dating shortly after the engagement ended. “I can’t speak for him, I don’t know,” she responded.
Alanis Morissette And Ryan Reynolds Were Once One Of Hollywood’s Most Talked-About Couples
Before either found lasting relationships with other partners, Morissette and Reynolds were one in all Hollywood’s most high-profile couples within the early 2000s. The pair began dating in 2002 and have become engaged two years later. They remained together for roughly five years before announcing their split in February 2007, ending a three-year engagement.
Reynolds moved on with actress Scarlett Johansson. The pair married in 2008, announced their separation in 2010, and finalized their divorce the next 12 months. The actor later began dating Blake Full of life, whom he met while filming the movie “Green Lantern.” The couple married in 2012 and have since welcomed 4 children together.
Reynolds has also recently made headlines for a separate controversy involving his wife. The actor became entangled within the highly publicized legal dispute between Full of life and her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director, Justin Baldoni. The conflict led to multiple lawsuits, with Baldoni at one point naming each Full of life and Reynolds in a $400 million lawsuit that was later dismissed.
Alanis Morissette Found A Different Kind Of Love After The Heartbreak
Morissette eventually found happiness with rapper Souleye, whose real name is Mario Treadway. The pair married in 2010 and now share three children together. Looking back on their relationship, Morissette described her husband as someone who immediately understood and accepted her.
“There are only so many qualities in him that were slam-dunky,” she told the outlet. “If I might speak about something on a date, typically the person would take a look at me quizzically like I used to be strange. It was the exact opposite with Souleye. He had zero desire to clip my wings.”
The Grammy Winner Says She Spent Years Learning How To Navigate Her Sensitivity
Elsewhere within the interview, Morissette opened up about identifying as a highly sensitive person and empath, admitting she spent years trying to find ways to administer overwhelming emotions. “I attempted myriad ways to control, whether that was partying or working,” she said. “I used to be an enormous work addict, still in recovery. A number of love addiction, which also had some sex addiction.”
Despite feeling misunderstood for much of her life, Morissette said she has reached a degree where she feels more comfortable with herself and the way she pertains to others. “All I do know is that I made absolutely no sense to most individuals for a really very long time and it was lonely and painful, but I persevered,” she said. “Now I feel myself making more sense to people.”