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Rupert Everett is revealing the dark side of Hollywood’s body-image pressures.
The veteran actor said years spent trying to sculpt the perfect leading-man physique have left him dealing with serious physical consequences decades later.
“I ruined myself. Now I’m almost crippled as a result,” Everett confessed to The Guardian.
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British actor Rupert Everett is pictured in a portrait from Oct. 20, 1987. (Micheline Pelletier/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
The “My Best Friend’s Wedding” star, 67, noted that years of intense weightlifting in the 1980s and 1990s have left him dealing with lasting health issues.
He explained how he neglected key aspects of training that could have helped protect his body from injury.
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Rupert Everett attends the New York Premiere of Robert Altman’s “Ready to Wear” in New York City, New York, on Dec. 12, 1994. (Vinnie Zuffante / Getty Images)
“I could never be bothered to do all those things, like stretching, which were necessary for lifting weights, because your tendons get tighter and tighter,” Everett said.
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“So boring. I didn’t do any of that. So now my demise will be musculoskeletal, I think.”
Before Everett hit the weights, he found another way to bulk up his appearance.
The British actor confessed he secretly wore custom-made bodysuits designed to make him look bigger, stronger and more muscular — even on movie sets.
Rupert Everett says years of intense weightlifting left him “almost crippled.” (Daniele Venturelli / Getty Images)
“I met these two queens in Tufnell Park [north London] who made bodysuits, and they made me a false bottom, false calves, false shoulders, false everything.” Everett explained. “Yes [I wore them], in everything.”
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Rupert Everett reveals he wore custom-made bodysuits to appear muscular on set and says intense weightlifting has left him with lasting health issues. (Kate Green/Getty Images)
According to Everett, the custom-made enhancements helped him display the image he felt was expected in the entertainment industry at the time.
When asked whether directors were aware of the bodysuits, Everett said that he kept the secret to himself.
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“No! I’d go into the fittings for the costumes with all my things on,” he replied.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Everett for comment.
Everett has built a decades-long career spanning film, television and theater, earning acclaim for roles in projects including “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “An Ideal Husband” and “The Madness of King George.”