Anna Marie Tendler Reflects On ‘Harsh And Punishing’ Year Following John Mulaney Split

Anna Marie Tendler has a lot to say about what happened in 2021.

As you know, the 36-year-old artist has gone through a lot over the past several months, what with her divorce to then-husband John Mulaney and then him welcoming a baby with Olivia Munn later. And in a lengthy Instagram post on Friday, Tendler opened up about the changes and challenges she experienced over the year, writing:

“Change can be soft and small. Change can be large and loud. Change cannot be warded off. Try as you might to shut the metaphorical door, to fasten the locks and batten down the hatches, you soon discover that change is an angry mob with pitchforks and torches – resist or acquiesce, it is here to burn your house down. The age-old adage stands: the only constant is change. Over the past two years it seems that change has been synonymous with loss and collectively this loss has been unfathomable. It is tempting to construct a poetic list of all we’ve watched slip through our hands, but what’s the point? We already know it and we grieve it daily.”

We cannot help but think the “loss” she’s referring to is the comedian…

She then added how “there is no going back” while explaining how all of the changes have impacted her mental health:

“My own brain is well acquainted with the elusiveness of hope that materializes in sporadic and ephemeral waves. I suppose, in part, this is what it means to live with depression and anxiety. That said, melancholia is oft amplified by circumstance and the circumstances of my year have been harsh and punishing. I find myself asking, ‘when will I feel normal?’ but in reality I recognize that the normal from before has expired; ‘normal’ is an impossibility, there is only ‘new.’”

The makeup artist continued:

“How, precisely, do we sit with, in order to move through? We call our friends; we allow ourselves to laugh. We cry in parked cars. We work; we rest. We throw plates just to watch them break; we make things with our hands. We write, we read, we watch movies. We listen to music. We run, or walk, or sprint, or dance. We ask for help or learn to ask for help. We love or learn to love again.”

Tendler then saluted “all the things we did this year to cope” and “all we will do next year to heal” before adding:

“An infinite history of pain and suffering occurred before this time, yet here we all are, surviving and creating and laughing at tik tok videos. So long 2021. For better or worse I will carry a piece of you with me forever.”

Well said. You can ch-ch-check out the entire post (below):