John Goodman stunned fans as his weight loss was made apparent over the weekend, but his journey didn’t “happen overnight”.
The Big Lebowski star, who turned 71 on 20 June, recently attended the 2023 Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco on Sunday (18 June) where he debuted his slimmed-down figure on the red carpet.
In photos from the event, Goodman looked sharp in a navy blue double-breasted suit and khaki pants, which he paired with a yellow tie, brown loafers, and round-framed sunglasses. The actor’s transformation is the result of more than a decade of hard work, after he reportedly started working on his health back in 2007.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone published on 17 June, Goodman revealed that he has lost a total of 200 pounds, ever since he first revealed to David Letterman in 2011 that he was “pushing 400” pounds when he was at his heaviest. “I’d get off of Roseanne every spring. I’d lose 60 pounds every spring [but] I’d gain it back and then some, every year,” he told the late-night host at the time.
At the start of his journey, Goodman hired health coach Mackie Shilstone who helped him to give up sugar and work out six days a week. The actor, who’s been open about his struggles with alcoholism in the past, also stopped drinking after checking into a rehabilitation center in 2007.
“It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your a** and figure out what you’re going to eat next,” he said in an interview with People in 2010. “I wanted to live life better.”
Five years later, Goodman’s health coach revealed to the New York Post that the Roseanne star had lost 100 pounds through a combination of diet and exercise. Goodman unveiled his 100-pound weight loss transformation at the premiere of his film Trumbo in 2015.
“This didn’t happen overnight – it’s been an ongoing process,” Shilstone told the Post. He introduced Goodman to a “Mediterranean-style eating plan,” which heavily leaned on a diet of fish, nuts, olive oil, vegetables, and fruit.
The Monsters, Inc actor also racked up 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day, along with getting in some miles on the elliptical bicycle and treadmill. At the time, Goodman’s then-100 pound weight loss took around two years.
In an interview with ABC News, Goodman revealed that he decided to make a change to his habits after he would look in the mirror and not like what he saw in his reflection. “I just got tired, sick and tired of looking at myself. You’re shaving in the mirror and you don’t want to look at yourself. It gets dangerous,” he told ABC’s Peter Travers in 2016.
Goodman also explained that his weight loss journey was made easier after he “just stopped eating all the time”.
“I’d have a handful of food and it’d go to my mouth,” he said. “In the old days, I would take three months out, lose 60 or 70 pounds, and then reward myself with a six-pack of Bud or whatever and just go back to my old habits.”
“Then this time I wanted to do it slowly, move, exercise. I’m getting to the age where I can’t afford to sit still anymore. And it gives me the energy to work, ‘cause work is very draining.”
These days, John Goodman has been busy balancing his ongoing health journey with his many roles in television – reprising his role from Roseanne as beloved father Dan Conner in ABC’s The Conners, and televangelist patriarch Eli Gemstone in the HBO comedy, The Righteous Gemstones.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Goodman detailed that he stays active by “getting out and walking the dogs” amidst his busy schedule. Before production began on The Conners in 2018, Goodman said he spent much of his time boxing too.
“I was boxing up until then and I haven’t been able to do that since Covid because I’m lazy,” he shared. “I haven’t been exercising, but I’m going to start a routine again this summer where I can get some stuff done. I’ve just let everything go just because I haven’t had the energy because of the jobs.”
The iconic Hollywood actor also opened up about his past struggles with alcohol and “anger as a younger man,” which he admitted was “fuelled by fear”.
“But I was probably born an alcoholic,” he joked. “But most of the anger’s gone. If I don’t watch the news, I’m cool.”
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