Drew Barrymore Talks About Dieting For ‘Santa Clarita Diet’ Role And The ‘Responsibility’ She Felt


In the Netflix series, Santa Clarita Diet, Drew Barrymore plays a flesh-eating zombie, who also has a family and a job as a realtor. With the series set to return for its second season as of March 23, the actress is currently making the rounds with the media to promote the new season, and one of the topics she is discussing is her diet. While Barrymore has previously discussed losing weight for the role of Sheila Hammond in Santa Clarita Diet, the topic was once more brought up in an interview on Friday.

According to People Magazine, one of the reasons that Drew Barrymore felt she needed to diet for the role is because her character is now on a protein only type of diet, which means Sheila would be losing weight from the change in what she eats. Even for the second season of Santa Clarita Diet, Barrymore knew that she had a “responsibility” to get things right for the character and the story itself. In fact, the actress said that it was this intense sense of responsibility that made her say to herself, “I want to be Sheila and then there was like no excuses.”

It was this sense of responsibility that ultimately led to Drew Barrymore losing 20 pounds, and even though the weight loss was really for the show itself, the actress did admit that it also made her feel really good as well. She explained that even though the show is called Santa Clarita Diet, it is so much more than that for her.

Barrymore shared that beyond it being a diet for her, getting the chance to not only get her hair done to play Sheila, but also “putting on nails and accessorizing,” has reminded her that sometimes a person can feel more alive when they put time into themselves. Drew Barrymore even said she finds it “ironic” that playing a flesh-eating zombie has shown her what it takes to feel more alive at times.

When she first took on the role of Sheila in Santa Clarita Diet, Barrymore was dealing with a tough time, as she was going through a divorce and “had sort of let myself go, due to personal circumstances.” At the time, she explained that losing the weight for the role was a chance for her to “come alive” again.

Much like her character has felt like she has lost a lot, at the time Drew Barrymore took on the role, she felt the same way and it was what helped her to connect with Sheila and ultimately embody the character. With the help of her role in Santa Clarita Diet, Barrymore says she has been able to regain some of what she had lost along the way and even “come alive with her. And it really was so positive for me.”

While Drew Barrymore may have felt a responsibility to her character in Santa Clarita Diet, which is what led to her dieting and losing 20 pounds, it is also clear that it was for her as well and being able to feel “alive.”

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