Drew Barrymore Talks Filming New Show During Divorce: 'My Whole Life Was Falling Apart'

Drew Barrymore opened up about how her new show helped her through divorce

Photo: Netflix

Drew Barrymore is opening up about how her new show helped her through tough times.

The actress appeared at a Netflix panel where she talked about filming Santa Clarita Diet while she was going through a divorce with ex-husband Will Kopelman.

“I think this woman is going through an awakening … I loved getting to have that outlet. It was a safe place for me to spend my summer while my whole life was just sort of falling apart,” she said. ” I was just in a really low point and I read the script and it made me laugh and it made me feel something. It took me out of my own world that wasn’t super pleasant at the time and I thought, ‘Maybe other people wanna be take out of their unpleasant times and be transported into something that’s cool and different.’ “

Barrymore separated from her ex-husband in early April 2016 after four years of marriage. The couple share daughters Olive, 4, and Frankie, 2, and remain friendly exes.

The actress said that although they were going through wildly different circumstances, she connected with her character Sheila because they were both going through major life changes.

“I really was excited about playing a woman who was becoming empowered, losing weight, pulling her s— together. Finding that when your life really does fall apart, you don’t ditch everything in it,” Barrymore said. “You have to become you and take all the wonderful things in it and just find these new roads. And for me, it was a total metaphor for my life. I felt really lucky. And I hadn’t been working for years. “

But Barrymore admitted that the best thing about the show was it’s perfect timing after she had spent a few years off the screen. “I was a mom who was raising her kids and I stepped aside and put everything on the back burner,” she said. “I did like two movies in eight years, I just wasn’t participating in a lot of aspects so this to me was such a lucky fortunate thing.”

She added, “Timing is everything; it’s the next tattoo I want to get. This took me out of my s— and made me a happier person.”

Santa Clarita Diet is streaming on Netflix now.