Drew Barrymore Says She Was in a 'Dark and Fearful' Place While Going Through Her Divorce

Drew Barrymore
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The 43-year-old actress opened up about briefly dropping out of acting and her 2016 divorce.

Drew Barrymore wasn't ready to return to acting in 2016 when the Santa Clarita Diet came her way.

The 43-year-old actress opened up to TODAY on Sunday, describing an incredibly difficult time in her life. She was in the process of divorcing from husband Will Kopelman in 2016, after three years of marriage and was feeling very much like a "failure."

"I was not looking for a job. I had actually stopped acting for several years because I wanted to raise my kids, but then a shift happened in my life and I was separating from their father and it was just a very difficult time," she told TODAY. "I personally was in a very dark and fearful place, and then this script came along, and I was like, 'Yeah, I don't think it's a good time.'"

Barrymore has struggled with the aftermath of the divorce, saying that dating was the furthest thing from her mind last year and calling divorce "my worst nightmare."

Yet, Barrymore relented, agreeing not only to star on Santa Clarita Diet when the opportunity came, but also to executive produce.

It's a decision, she said, that taught her a "valuable life lesson."

"Sometimes when you think something is the worst timing and the worst idea, it can actually become a thing that saves you and pulls you out and gives you a new focus and empowerment, and switches your constant stuck way of thinking and feeling and put it into something else that might actually get you to a healthier place faster,'' she said.

She told ET at the time that joining the show got her started "thinking like a woman again," not to mention leading her to achieves some stunning weight loss.

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