Taylor Lautner Says Appearing Shirtless In Twilight Led To Body Image Issues

Taylor Lautner was left with body image issues after making the Twilight movies.

Lautner was 16 when he starred as shapeshifter Jacob Black in 2009's Twilight. He went on to appear in four more instalments based on the books by Stephanie Meyer. 

Looking back, Lautner, now 30, said those movies where he appeared frequently shirtless made him conscious about his body.

Speaking on his The Squeeze podcast, Lautner said, "When I was in it, when I was 16 through 20 years old, I was starring in this franchise where my character is known for taking his shirt off every other second. No, I did not know that it was affecting me or that it was going to affect me in future with body image.

"In the first movie, I was 140lbs (64kg) and in New Moon I was 175lbs (80kg), so that wasn't my natural body. And I had to work hard for it, and I had to work very, very hard just to maintain it.

The Grown Ups star also explained that he had a negative reaction to seeing images of his changing body shared online and reminded fans that they can change whatever they want to about their body physically but it will be "all for nothing" if their mental health is not in check.

He added: "But then seeing it online where they put the side by sides of me shirtless in the ocean in a scene in that movie compared to me in Eclipse or whatever, and being like 'Wow, he's let it all go!' I was like 'Oh man!'

"Your body can look unbelievable. You can be ripped, shredded, whatever. You can lose weight, you can put on muscle and if you're not healthy mentally, then that's all for nothing because that can work against you."

Listen to Lautner's podcast here:

— BANG SHOWBIZ

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos

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