It has not been the best year for Anna Marie Tendler. With a pandemic outbreak, a divorce from comedian John Mulaney, and living alone in a wooded area of Connecticut, she had to find a way to keep moving forward. For Tendler, that way means decorating her home, taking gorgeous pictures ...... and doing needlework.

"I feel very fortunate that so much of my work is such mundane, detail-oriented handwork. I work with needle and thread, and if I don't, I'm going to stab myself with the needle and ruin something," Tendler tells Harper's Bazaar in a new interview.

Reflecting on how heartbreak has helped her creatively, she joked.

In retrospect, Mulaney and Tendler announced their separation in the spring of 2021. Shortly after, word broke that Mulaney was dating actress Olivia Munn; in September, the comedian announced that they were expecting a baby together, Malcolm Hiep, who was born at the end of the year. Mullaney and Tendler were married in 2014 and have no children.

"I think everything that has happened so far has been totally shocking and surreal," the artist now tells Harper's Bazaar. 'In a way, it's like there's only one way to go up from here.'

Still, Tendler is grateful for the richness that her time with Mullaney has given her. 'I don't want to squander it,' she said. 'I've had time to think about what I want to do. I know that a lot of people don't get that.'

As for having children, she explained that she "always held partnership over having children," but would probably freeze her eggs.

"It was a closed door," Tendler continued, "so there were things I never thought about before." I feel fortunate to be able to stand on the precipice of all these new things," he said.