The actor has confessed that he suffered body dysmorphia after filming the saga
Taylor Lautner rose to fame for his role playing Jacob Black, the famous werewolf in the Twilight films. Since then he has starred in numerous films such as Valentine’s Stories alongside Taylor Swift. The 30-year-old actor has just told something he has never dared to do since the saga ended.
It is known that many actors face body changes in order to get a certain role in a series or film. This was the case of Lautner, who had to do so even as a teenager. Getting the body he had in all the movies gave him what’s known as body dysmorphia. It is a health problem that usually affects women but as is the case of Taylor, there are also some cases in men.
The actor acknowledges that playing this role took him to the top but still not everything was beautiful for him. ” When I was between 16 and 20 years old, starring in this film in which my character is known to take off his shirt every two seconds, I did not know that it was affecting me or that I would have problems in the future in relation to body image” he commented during a podcast episode of The Squeeze that he shares with his wife Taylor Dome Lautner.
During this broadcast he talked about how he had to quickly get the athletic body that the directors asked him to. He was forced to spend a lot of time in the gym every day and to follow a diet in order to achieve muscles that are not normal for a teenage boy. What he had to do for the first film got worse in the second. Lautner had to gain another 11 kilos and keep going constantly to the gym to show off a body that looked like an even older man.
Once the filming of the saga ended, the artist decided to leave behind these forced trainings and live like a normal boy of his age. This caused people and even some of his fans to start criticizing him for neglecting his appearance. Taylor did not understand these criticisms because for other new roles he was getting, such as in Run the tide, his body did not have to be this muscular.
After receiving these negative comments the actor decided to go back to the gym but not because he did not like his physique but because of his self-esteem. Luckily he soon realized he had to start putting his mental health first.
