Charlize Theron Opens Up About Developing Depression While Gaining Weight For New Film
Published on April 19, 2018.Press Association
Charlize Theron has mastered the art of changing her appearance for a role, and she stunned audiences with the changes she made for her role in Monster which won her an Oscar.
This time it seems it wasn’t so easy for the 42-year-old actress who recently had to gain almost 50 lbs. for her lead role in the upcoming film Tully. Theron opened up to Entertainment Tonight about how her change in diet and gaining weight ended up seriously affecting her overall mental health.
“I just I wanted to feel what this woman felt, and I think that was a way for me to get closer to her and get into that mindset,” she told Entertainment Tonight of gaining the weight. “You know, it was a huge surprise to me. I got hit in the face pretty hard with depression. Yeah, for the first time in my life I was eating so much processed foods and I drank way too much sugar. I was not that fun to be around on this film.”
Theron admitted that at first she had fun breaking away from her usual nutrition and diet plan. “It was fun to go and have breakfast at In-N-Out and have two milkshakes,” she said. “And then after three weeks, it’s not fun anymore. Like, all of a sudden you’re just done eating that amount and then it becomes a job.”
“I would literally wake up at two in the morning and I’d have a cup of cold macaroni and cheese just next to me,” she added of the work she had to put into just to keep the weight on. “I would wake up and I would just eat it…I would just, like, shove it in my throat. It’s hard to maintain that weight.”
Her change in appearance even confused her kids she revealed, “My little one was convinced that I had a baby in my belly,” Theron said, laughing. “[My kids] still refer to this movie as the movie where mommy had a big belly.”
While putting on the weight was difficult enough, she also revealed that working it back off was even harder. “There’s nothing fun about that. It took about a year and a half. It was a long journey, very long journey. I was worried. I was like, this is taking a really long time,” she said. “Because on Monster, I just didn’t snack for five days and I was fine. You know your body at 27 is a little different than your body at 43, and my doctor made sure to make me very aware of that. Like, you are 42, calm down, you’re not dying, all good.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5D3O4yCmCg