Taylor Lautner Says 'Twilight' Transformation Caused Him To Have Body Issues
Taylor Lautner has opened up about the impact of Twilight has had on him over the years, and says that starring in the film franchise did attribute to his body image issues.
It was during a new episode of his podcast The Squeeze that the 30-year-old actor revealed that he had a difficult time being just known for how muscular he was for the role of Jacob Black.
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Talking with his wife, Tay Dome Lautner, Taylor said that after New Moon came, he was subject to a lot of comments about his body.
“When I was in it, when I was 16 through 20 years old, starring in this franchise where my character is known for taking his shirt off every other second, no, I did not know that it was affecting me or going to affect me in the future with body image,” he shared on the podcast. “But now looking back at it, of course it did, and of course it is going to.”
He added that there was a physical toll as well, as he underwent a 3,200-calorie daily diet paired with a gym regimen to bulk up to play Jacob.
“It was my entire life,” Taylor said. “In the first movie, I was 140 lbs., and in New Moon I was 175. So yeah, that wasn’t my natural body. I had to work very hard for it and very, very hard just to maintain it.”
He says he was “forced to be in a gym multiple times a day, six days a week” so after the franchise ended, he started “rebelling against the gym” and stopped working out entirely.
“What happens when you don’t want to see a gym? You start losing the eight pack. I started having more normal of a body,” Taylor mused. “I remember one of the first times seeing it online was very tough. I was filming a movie called Run The Tide, and my character in that is not supposed to be a bodybuilder or ripped guy in any way. I thought I looked fine.”
“But then seeing it online where they put the side-by-sides of me shirtless in the ocean in a scene from that movie compared to me in Eclipse or whatever and being like, ‘Wow, he’s let it all go.’ I was like, ‘Oh, man. Did I really let it all go?’ I didn’t think I looked that bad,” he concluded.
It was heavily rumored that Michael Copon was favored to take over the role of Jacob Black if Taylor failed to meet the physical element of the character’s bulk up, which was present in the books.
In another episode of his podcast, Taylor opened up about the infamous moment between his ex, Taylor Swift, and Kanye West.