We all have our own ways of dealing with a breakup. Whether you find consolation in a tub of Ben and Jerry's, committing to an intense 8-week gym program, or by booking a holiday with your friends, the getting-over-someone stage is never easy, and always different.
But it turns out that for Ashton Kutcher, he couldn't find solace in the tried and tested remedies. He went off the beaten track – literally – and decided to go into voluntary exile into the mountains without food or technology for a whole week to recover from his divorce from Demi Moore.
The That '70s Show and Moore married in 2005 before announcing a surprise divorce in 2013. In his mid-thirties at the time, it seems the actor thought the best way to cope was to venture into a spirit quest and head deep into the woods. Kutcher said he spent the week fasting, only consuming water and tea, and detoxing entirely from society and the digital world by leaving his phone, laptop and other technology behind.
"Right after I got divorced, I went to the mountains for a week by myself," he told Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast. "I went into Big Sky in Montana, and I did no food, no drink - just water and tea."
"I took all my computers away, my phone, my everything. I was there by myself so there was no talking, and I just had a notepad and a pen and water and tea for a week."
And naturally, the lack of food, stimulation and distraction lead to him start seeing things. "I started to hallucinate on like day 2 which was fantastic," he mused. "It was pretty wonderful. I was doing tai chi with my own energy."
He used the pen and paper to reflect on past relationships, using the time to make amends and let go of any negative feelings he still had around past splits.
"I wrote down every single relationship that I had where I felt like there was some grudge or some anything and then I wrote letters to every single person and sent the letters on day 7. I typed them all out and sent them."
Of course, Kutcher is now happily married again, this time to Mila Kunis. The pair married in 2015 and have two children together, Wyatt and Dmitri.
Rumours spread that Kutcher and Moore divorced because he cheated on her with Sara Leal in Las Vegas, though Moore cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the split. They each released separate statements are the time of the breakup. Kutcher's read: "I will forever cherish the time I spent with Demi. Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail."
And Moore's stated: "It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have decided to end my six-year marriage to Ashton. As a woman, a mother and a wife there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life."
Well, looks like the week fasting in the woods did him good, and his relationship with Kunis is thriving.
