Drew Barrymore Struggled With Body Image Ahead of ‘Santa Clarita Diet’: ‘I’m 20 Pounds Overweight’

If you watch Santa Clarita Diet on Netflix then you already know that Drew Barrymore is absolutely the glue of the hit series. So much so, that it seems nearly impossible to picture the role of Sheila Hammond as anyone else.

As it turns out, however, it took some negotiating for the actress, 44, to join the cast. “I just thought, you know. ‘I’m 20 pounds overweight. My life is totally not where I thought it would be. I wanna put all this into this character,’” the mother-of-two explained on Good Morning America.

Of course, Drew couldn’t very well set the tone for her character’s narrative without running it by Santa Clarita Diet showrunner Victor Fresco. So, she asked him point blank, “Can I do that?” Well, seeing as the third season of the show just dropped on Friday, March 29, we all know that his answer was positive.

In addition to Drew’s insistence on adding “a little spine and a little grit,” to Sheila’s character, she also wanted to be sure that she agreed with how marriage was being portrayed. At the time, Drew was finalizing her divorce from third husband Will Kopelman.

“I liked this sort of tone of this marriage, that although mine wasn’t working, I like to see things that are about a good relationship,” she explained. “Like, we’re all gonna try and practice that in our life, and whatever unconventional forms that is, love is love,” adding, ‘And I hate seeing people fight. And Victor said,  ‘I will never have this couple fight.’ And I’m like, ‘Then I’m in.’”

The ever-handsome Timothy Olyphant plays Drew’s husband, Joel Hammond, on the dark comedy and thankfully, their dynamic is exactly as Drew as promised!

Season 3 of Santa Clarita Diet, which includes 10 brand new episodes, is currently streaming on Netflix. If you need to catch up, seasons 1 and 2 are available, as well.