When tales of Hollywood body-shaming make headlines, it’s most often women and girls who are the subjects of these stories.
However, actor Sam Claflin wants you to know the guys get it too. In fact, the 30-year-old actor felt he had it almost just as bad as his women co-stars.
In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, the Me Before You star opened up about his experiences.
“I remember doing one job when they literally made me pull my shirt up and were grabbing my fat and going, ‘You need to lose a bit of weight,’” he said to The Herald. “This other time they were slapping me. I felt like a piece of meat.”
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The Hunger Games actor went on: “I’m not saying it’s anywhere near as bad as what women go through but I, as an actor approaching each job, am insecure — especially when I have to take my top off in it — and so nervous,” he said. “I get really worked up to the point where I spend hours and hours in the gym and not eating for weeks to achieve what I think they’re going for.”
Claflin then continued to make some valid points about the differences between expectations placed on male actors from era’s past versus Hollywood’s current model. “James Bond never had a six pack. He had a hairy chest. Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire had an incredible body but he was by no means ripped to within an inch of his life. There’s a filter on society that this is normal, but actually it’s anything but normal.”
This isn’t the first time Claflin has gotten candid about his body. Last December he addressed a black-and-white photo featuring a chiseled version of himself. However, there was one major problem: It wasn’t him. In a humbling Instagram post, he let fans know that while he appreciates the photoshop job — his head was placed on the body of a very ripped unknown man — the picture was fake.
“...It isn't me. It never was me. Don't get me wrong, I have worked out before, and I really like it when I do, but to THIS extent? Not something I've done yet. Maybe one day, eh,” he wrote.
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Claflin isn’t the only actor who's claimed he's been made to feel “like a piece of meat.” Zac Efron looked understandably uncomfortable after a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, after he was pressured to pole dance. Actor Chris Pratt, also had some choice words for body-shamers after receiving an onslaught of negative comments on an Instagram photo. “ ...Just because I am a male doesn't mean I'm impervious to your whispers. Body shaming hurts,” he said.