Drew Barrymore Reveals She Lost 20 Pounds Filming New Zombie Show

Drew Barrymore says she "let herself go" due to "personal circumstances."

Drew Barrymore is feeling more confident than ever these days.

The 41-year-old actress stopped by the Today show on Friday to promote her new Netflix show -- The Santa Clarita Diet -- with her co-star Timothy Olyphant, and shared she lost 20 pounds while filming. Barrymore plays Sheila in the show, who becomes a zombie after she dies.

"It came in the middle of this moment in my life where I had let myself go due to personal circumstances," Barrymore shares. "And I thought I could come alive with Sheila. It was a really great goal line for me, because as much as the weight loss, everything's very subtle -- it's attitudinal, it's empowerment, it's confidence."

WATCH: EXCLUSIVE -- Drew Barrymore Has a Taste for Human Flesh in New Netflix Show, 'The Santa Clarita Diet'

"It's all of these things that she's lost in her life -- and I felt I had sort of lost in my life -- and it was such a blessing to come alive with her, and it really was so positive for me," she adds.

Barrymore jokes that losing weight was a central part of playing Sheila.

"If you're eating, in her case, human flesh, I basically thought, 'Well, if a woman was just eating simple protein every day all day long she would lose weight," the mother of two says with a smile. "It's, like, a very macabre Atkins [diet]."

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Barrymore is currently single after splitting from her ex-husband, art consultant Will Kopelman, last April. The pair have two daughters together, 4-year-old Olive and 2-year-old Frankie.

In November, the actress acknowledged that 2016 was a difficult year for her. "I have cried a lot this year," she Instagrammed. "I have always been a person who is flawed. I forgive. I fight. But I do not fight with others. I will spend my life trying to give love. And I am always aware and appreciative when I receive it. My heart is very open right now."

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