Taylor Lautner Shares How Twilight Led to Body Image Issues

Taylor Lautner is getting candid about body image.

The actor recently shared how starring in the Twilight movie franchise, where he played werewolf Jacob Black, impacted the way he viewed his body.

“When I was in it, when I was 16 through 20 years old, starring in this franchise where my character is known for taking his shirt off every other second,” Lautner said on The Squeeze podcast Feb. 1, “no, I did not know that it was affecting me or going to affect me in the future with body image, but now looking back at it, of course it did, and of course it is going to.”

Lautner recalled the physical transformation he undertook to play the character, as well as the toll it took on him.

“In the first movie, I was 140 pounds, and in New Moon I was 175,” he continued. “So yeah, that wasn’t my natural body. I had to work very hard for it and very, very hard just to maintain it.”

After the franchise ended in 2012, the 30-year-old detailed his hesitation of going to the gym after being “forced to be in a gym multiple times a day, six days a week” while filming Twilight.