Actors who paid price for perfection! When stars take extreme diets too far

We have always been obsessed with celebrity diets and diet culture, but you will be shocked to know how celebrities have taken extreme diets too far and the price of achieving the perfect body has been steep for some of them.

Many stars have taken extreme diets to alarming extremes, risking their health, well-being, and even their lives.

From Tom Holland to Jennifer Aniston; explore the stories of actors who lost the weight for and later went against the method:  

Jennifer Lawrence

The Hunger Games actress lost weight through dieting to play an ex-ballerina in Red Sparrow.

However, in 2018, during an interview, Lawrence told Vanity Fair, "I can't work on a diet. I'm hungry. I'm standing on my feet. I need more energy."

According to the No Hard Feelings actress, she remembers having a meltdown, freaking out that she had eaten five banana chips.

Benedict Cumberbatch

For The Courier, Cumberbatch lost a significant amount of weight "through the usual methods of dieting, but also some extreme exercise."

In 2021, the British star told CinemaBlend, "It wasn't about atrophy or lethargy, it was very much about trying to shred everything to shrink wrap my body mass around muscle. But when you do start to feel slightly kind of, I can't remember what the word is when you… it's horrible, but it's basically a description for self-digestion; you also have to strip away muscle."

The Doctor Strange actor also added, "And that's a very nasty thing to be doing. And you get very disoriented, you feel dehydrated, you feel hungry all the time. You feel emotionally and physically very vulnerable."

Anne Hathaway

For her role as the tuberculosis-addled young woman, Hathaway lost 25 pounds and for that the The Princess Diaries actress ate nothing but oatmeal cakes to reach the emaciated state for several weeks.

However, the Devil Wears Prada performer later regretted the choice, as it affected her health for months to come.

According to Hathaway, she had trouble concentrating and experienced extreme fatigue for months following the experience.

Mila Kunis

The Russian native actress, who will soon star in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, was once engaged in both calorie restriction and extreme exercise to prepare for her role as a ballet dancer in 2010’s Black Swan.

At her lowest point, she was 95 pounds and struggling to avoid losing more weight and it was difficult for her to return to her usual body weight as well after the filming was completed.

“My shape is different. When I got down to 95 pounds," said Kunis, adding, “I was muscles, but skin and bones.”

Christian Bale

Bale is knowns for consistently gaining and losing considerable amounts of weight for his various roles.

For 2004’s The Machinist, Bale went on a crash diet to lose 60 pounds.

When asked afterward about it, the American Psycho actor said that he was no longer to concentrate or even climb stairs.

He later gained 45 pounds to play Dick Cheney in Vice and the experience left him exhausted as he was quoted saying, “Everything hurts now.

The Thor: Love and Thunder performer has since indicated he would no longer engage in weight loss or gain for his upcoming roles.

Tom Holland

Holland told GQ in 2021 that for his role in Cherry, he quickly lost about a quarter of his body mass through crash dieting and running in a trash bag. "I don't think I would ever do that again...It was awful. Truly. It was only about ten weeks out of shooting that I realized what I was getting into and what I need to do to transform into the role...It was brutal," the Spider-Man: No Way Home actor went on to say, "And then bulking up, going from a drug addict to shooting scenes as a marine? I got very sick, actually. And it's changed my relationship with food completely. I think I would find it very difficult to find a role that would warrant that sort of abuse on my body again."

Rebel Wilson

Remember when Rebel Wilson ate 600 calories a day?

The Bride Hard actress did a week-long detox program at the VIVAMAYR Medical Health Resort in Austria in 2023 during which she learned that a person might only need around 600 calories a day.

While the The Deb performer made the claim, she later clarified that she eats a small portion of a pint of ice cream for her cheat food, and the comments about the 600-calorie diet were quickly met with criticism from health experts and media.

Melissa McCarthy

When the Spy actress was cast on Gilmore Girls in 2000, "weight never came up," but she decided to undergo a liquids-only diet under a doctor's supervision.

In 2011, McCarthy told People, "I'd never do that again. I felt starved and crazy half the time."

Kim Kardashian

Remember when Kim Kardashian lost 16 pounds for 2022 Met Gala?

For the 2022 Met Gala, Ms. Kardashian followed a strict, low-carb, high-protein diet to fit into the Marilyn Monroe dress and lost a significant amount of weight very quickly.

Later her approach to lose the weight was labeled irresponsible and damaging due to its promotion of unhealthy dieting for a temporary goal.

Gwyneth Paltrow

For her daily "wellness" routine, Paltrow intermittent fasts until midday, and have bone broth, and a light paleo in dinner and lost 11 pounds with it.