Actress Susan Sarandon felt "like a failure" after her 23-year relationship with Tim Robbins broke down.

The Hollywood power couple, who met on the set of sports movie Bull Durham, stunned fans by announcing their separation in 2009, and Sarandon insists the break-up hit her hard.

She tells Reuters, "Of course you feel like a failure. It's a big deal, but again, it's an opportunity to grow.

"At the end of my first marriage (to actor Chris Sarandon), it was about the loss of ideal, about who you thought this person was. I thought love conquered all and I had to reevaluate everything. And you need your girlfriends, you need to take long, long walks until you're exhausted and no longer freaking out and you hold on until a new dawn. Then you get another chance."

The Dead Man Walking star has embraced single life and is determined to take the lessons learned from her Robbins split into her next romance.

She says, "(Single life has) been a lot of different things. It's traumatic and exhilarating. The one thing that's been really clear to me is that you have to think of your own life and your relationship and everything as a living organism. It's constantly moving, changing, growing. I think long-term relationships need to be constantly reevaluated and talked about."