Chris Pratt Mistakenly Called Himself ‘Impotent’ After Putting on Weight
Chris Pratt admitted he didn’t feel good about himself after realizing how much weight he gained. The experience didn’t only take a toll on him physically, but mentally as well.
How Chris Pratt felt after he saw how much weight he put on
Pratt didn’t always look the way that he did in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Parks and Recreation fans might recall Pratt once sported a bit of a larger, less muscular physique. At one point, Pratt had mixed feelings towards his appearance. Although he thought he was letting himself go, his comedy on the hit sitcom had never been better.
“Well, I remember in the first couple of seasons, just unintentionally, I had gotten a little fat and I was watching the episodes and I was like, ‘Oh, God, Chris, you’ve really let yourself go,'” Pratt said on Jimmy Kimmel Live (via Entertainment Tonight). “And then I was like, ‘but this is some of the funniest stuff you’ve ever done.'”
But eventually, Pratt’s weight gain started to overwhelm him in more ways than one.
“I was impotent, fatigued, emotionally depressed. I had real health issues that were affecting me in a major way. It’s bad for your heart, your skin, your system, your spirit,” Pratt once told Men’s Health.
Pratt’s weight would fluctuate over the years. It wasn’t until he did the Jessica Chastain feature Zero Dark Thirty that he made the change permanent.
“I’d gone back and forth, lost weight for Moneyball, got fat again, then trimmed down for Zero Dark Thirty, then gained it all back again for Andy,” he said. “That’s when I saw Zero Dark Thirty and right after walking out I was like: ‘I’m going to get in shape and I’m never going to be fat again.'”
Chris Pratt wasn’t sure what impotent meant
Shortly after his interview with Men’s Health, Pratt confided that his choice of words might’ve been questionable.
“I’m not sure I knew what ‘impotent’ meant when I said it,” Pratt said in an interview with Access (via CBS News). “I had a lower sex drive, to be honest with you. Everything about my spirit was dull. I didn’t feel great, and I think people will relate to that.”
The Tomorrow War star also clarified that he wasn’t trying to disparage anyone with his remarks.
“I don’t want to ever come out against sounding like I’m talking smack about people who have issues with their body weight, or don’t have issues with their body weight,” he continued. “To each their own, but to those who felt the way I felt at that time, there’s really hope.”
Pratt believed that his message could be sound advice for anyone experiencing similar feelings.
“You can, with hard work and dedication and just sticking to it, you can actually make a big change,” he said. “And it will affect you, not just physically, not just the way you look, but how you feel and how your spirit feels and how your penis feels — especially the penis part!”
Chris Pratt was told he was ‘too fat’ for ‘Moneyball’
Before Zero Dark Thirty, Pratt knew he had to make a few lifestyle changes when he tried auditioning for the Brad Pitt film Moneyball. It turned out that Pitt and his crew thought Pratt fit the role he was vying for in every way except for appearance.
“I got an audition through straight-up hardcore lobbying. But the response was: ‘Brad Pitt really liked you but you are too fat.’I was like: ‘All right, I can lose it, I can lose it,’” Pratt said in a separate Men’s Health interview.
Afterwards, the actor lost weight for the first time in a long while. And he did so in an impressive amount of time.
“I probably lost about 35lb in six weeks. All running; straight-up road work. I ran five or six miles a day. I ate leafy green salads and protein shakes, that was it. I didn’t know about healthy eating then. I cut out all alcohol. Trim, trim, trim. Finally I sent them a photo and it was, ‘Hey, they want to see you again.’ Yes,’” he said.
