Share and Follow
The Hunger Games actor, Sam Claflin, recently shared his personal battle with body dysmorphia.
During a guest appearance on Fearne Cotton’s “Happy Place” podcast on Monday, February 2, Claflin, 39, known for his role as Finnick Odair in the popular film series, confessed, “I’m incredibly insecure.”
He elaborated, “I just attended a film screening I was part of, and right after, the director and producers asked, ‘How was it?’ My response was, ‘I hated it.’ I just can’t stand my face. I don’t like myself.”
The actor from Daisy Jones & The Six further admitted, “I believe I have a form of body dysmorphia,” attributing this to experiences from his upbringing.
Meanwhile, his co-stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth have moved forward successfully from the Hunger Games series, showing that fortune has favored them well. The franchise, based on Suzanne Collins’ young adult novels, includes the films The Hunger Games (2012), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 (2015).
“I think that may have stemmed from being a teenager and hitting puberty late, and not feeling like I was good-looking, or too short, or not strong enough,” Claflin explained. “I remember a P.E. class specifically where I couldn’t do a pull-up when everyone else in my year was doing pull-ups, and I just felt incredibly embarrassed.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, “body dysmorphic disorder is a mental health condition in which you can’t stop thinking about one or more perceived defects or flaws in your appearance — a flaw that appears minor or can’t be seen by others.” Those with the condition may “intensely focus on [their] appearance and body image, repeatedly checking the mirror, grooming or seeking reassurance, sometimes for many hours each day.” The disorder can “cause you significant distress and impact your ability to function in your daily life,” per the academic medical center.
Claflin said his body insecurities are further impacted by his career as an actor.
A massive adjustment. Sam Claflin was going through major life changes — going through a divorce and becoming a single father — when he was cast as rock star Billy Dunne in Daisy Jones & the Six. “I’d been through quite a lot personally at the time,” the Hunger Games actor, 36, told Variety in […]
“Being in the industry that I’m in, and being especially now the entire world has the opportunity to have their opinion, I think, yeah, it really affects you,” he said.
“A lot of the roles I played earlier on in my career … I had a topless scene in one of my first movies, but wasn’t told, it wasn’t in the script,” he shared. “I got told, like, a week before they were going to take my top off, and I’m like, ‘S***, I haven’t been working out. What am I going to do? This is like my first introduction to the world.’”
He added, “I think it’s I’ve been massively affected by it, and I’d say most guys are that I’ve spoken to, anyway, in some degree. But mine got quite bad.”
The British actor said that, among other things, “I really overthink everything, so I will skip meals … I don’t eat breakfast, I have a juice in the morning and I work out doubly hard if I’ve had a bad meal the night before.”
Shocking, indeed! Some celebs seek out extreme methods to shed pounds, while others transform with the aid of healthier methods. From Rosie O’Donnell’s and Jordin Sparks’ respective 50 pound weight losses to Biggest Loser winner Rachel Frederickson’s whopping 155 lighter frame, see before and after pictures of celebrities’ weight loss transformations.
“It’s a real struggle, it’s like an everyday struggle,” he shared, adding that he also struggles with people-pleasing.
“It bothers me that people might not like me, or might not think I’m a nice person or whatever it is, or [I] might not look good,” he said. “I’m sort of in the process of working through that and being aware of it, trying to embrace it, but it’s a challenge.”
Despite his personal challenges, Claflin said, “I’m not miserable, by any means. I’m very happy,” noting that he particularly enjoys being a father.
“I embrace that role with all of me. I was born to be a nurturer. … Having kids has given me my life’s purpose, I feel,” said Claflin, who shares son Pip, 10, and daughter Margot, 8, with his ex-wife, actress Laura Haddock.