Gerard Butler claims he ‘became a monk’ while traveling through Thailand

Here are some assorted photos of Gerard Butler (and Aaron Eckhart) promoting Olympus Has Fallen in Russia (last week) and London (this week). Gerard not only stars in the film – about terrorists capturing the White House and the President – but he’s also a producer, which explains why he’s been front-and-center for all of the promotion. Still, it would have been nice to see him get a major magazine cover, right? For all of his faults and Porto-potty bangin’, Gerard is a good interview and a half-way interesting dude. During a Q&A session in London two nights ago, Gerry talked about how he needed to decompress after the grueling film schedule for Olympus:

Actor Gerard Butler says he felt so stressed out after filming new movie `Olympus Has Fallen` he stepped out of the spotlight and embarked on a round-the-world trip. The 43-year-old Scottish actor said that the pressure of producing and acting in the action-thriller got too much for him at times, and he felt overwhelmed, reported Daily Star.

“I have to tell you that sometimes, when you are producing and you feel that weight, it`s tough. A couple of people were reminding me while we were in the middle of making it of how crazy I got. They would tell me about how insane I got and things I was saying. I would go, `Oh yeah, so I did`,” he said.

“I`ve been making Olympus for a long time, so I thought it was time for a break. I decided to travel. In the past six or seven weeks, I have been to Scotland, England, Italy, Switzerland, Thailand, Mexico, Columbia – all for different reasons. But, mostly for travelling, just going to places and seeing friends… But, the real highlight for me was in Thailand, becoming a monk. I was hiding out in temples a lot,” Butler said.

[From Zee News]

He became a monk? Is that like an honorary thing? Because Gerard is NO MONK. Still, I’m sure he enjoyed his travels – it must have been like his International Tour of Strange. Gerard loves international booty calls. He must have ladies in every country. Except for maybe Thailand, which is why he became a “monk”.

As for Olympus Has Fallen – it got pretty crappy reviews (Rotten Tomatoes has it at 47%) but it’s making money. And Gerard’s career keeps limping along. Sigh… remember when he was supposed to be the next big thing? What happened? I actually have a theory! I think Hollywood didn’t know what to do with Gerard’s accent, and God knows, he’s incapable of doing any other accent besides Scottish. Only being able to play Scottish characters realistically has really hampered his career. Plus, you know… he’s not that great of an actor. Not that it stops other, more successful actors, I guess.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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29 Responses to “Gerard Butler claims he ‘became a monk’ while traveling through Thailand”

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  1. Faye says:

    Gerard Butler, a monk? To quote The Princess Bride: “I do not think that word means what you think it means.” Maybe to him, a monk means only banging 2-3 randoms per week :).

    There was a time when I thought he had a lot of talent, but he’s been in so many awful movies, at some point you have to wonder if it’s them or him.

  2. brin says:

    He didn’t finish his thought…he meant he was Monk-eying around.

  3. the original liv says:

    Well in Thailand, you could become a monk for a short awhile. I know someone who became a monk for a day for his father’s funeral. While some monks enter the monkhood for life, some only do it for a short while – ie. a day, a couple weeks, months, years… But once you’re ordained as a monk (for however short or long) you have to live like a monk – ie, you can’t touch money, you can’t touch women (women can’t even hand things directly to monks), and you can’t eat after noon (or something like that), you have to shave your head and facial hair (including eyebrows), etc. So it’s possible he was ordained as a monk for a short period – anyone have pictures of him with no eyebrows? That should confirm it.

  4. Jane says:

    I don’t buy it.

  5. Azurea says:

    Perhaps he meant he PLAYED at being a monk
    😉

  6. elceibeno08 says:

    A monk! LOL . Yeah right.

  7. SydneySpy says:

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! **thigh slaps** Scottish guys have such a comedic way with words!

  8. Miss M says:

    I think I was the only one who liked Olympus has fallen.

  9. Amy says:

    I can never recognize him with his mouth closed.

  10. T.C. says:

    A vacation after producing one movie? Life must be so hard for ya Gerry. LOL.

    • Jae M. says:

      That’s not the half of it. He’s been vacationing nonstop for months after the filming of this movie, and announced recently that he’s taking a long vacation after the PR tour to recover from filming as well, so apparently he needs months of vacation to recover from months of vacation. Is there any wonder his career has gone nowhere?

  11. Lee C. says:

    since he had his suppposedly current girlfriend with him in Thailand doesn’t say much good about her and well many can’t say much good about her

  12. Jae M. says:

    He was joking around. He didn’t mean it literally. Once again the press takes a comment, runs with it, and it ends up completely distorted. He was staying at a resort with the underwear model, so he was far from being a monk.

  13. Beep says:

    Aaron Eckhart. : Wistful sigh with a touch of drool:

  14. C.Lynn says:

    Gerard Butler is full of it. He stayed at the Four Seasons the whole time he was in Thailand and he had a Romanian underwear model staying there with him. I don’t know any monks staying in high class hotels with their booty-call.

  15. ChocoChipDstryr says:

    ‘I think Hollywood didn’t know what to do with Gerard’s accent, and God knows, he’s incapable of doing any other accent besides Scottish. Only being able to play Scottish characters realistically has really hampered his career.’

    It’s weird: Only doing Scottish accents didn’t stop Sean Connery at all – he played a (Scottish) Russian sub commander, a (Scottish) Irish cop, etc. Maybe if Butler did a few indie movies instead of bid budget films his career would get back on a good track.

  16. Lucretia says:

    You have to take anything he says with a grain of salt. His stories are full of exaggerations. He thinks he’s being funny. Like others have said, he had his current fling with him at the Four Seasons. She made sure everyone knew about it, as she always does, by providing a travelogue on her fb page. I suggest if he wants to continue to tell misleading stories, he needs to take away his booty call’s access to social media.

  17. Miss M says:

    I think I was the only one who liked “Machine gun preacher”. *sigh*

    I guess I still have a soft spot to my Butler. Poor Gerry not getting much love at CB any longer…

  18. Zvonk says:

    His career didn’t take off in the way people expected because he lost the hotness.

  19. madpoe says:

    monk my bahookie!
    monk fish maybe.

  20. blaylock says:

    I loved “Machine Gun Preacher”That was one of the best movies I had seen in a long time.Gerard was superb in it,and he did not lose his hotness.He is still the best looking man that ever graced the big screen I have been a fan of his since 1998,he is older now but still very handsome and I believe when he is ninety he will still be a good looking man.

  21. KellyinSeattle says:

    I’ve always found him smug and irritating.

  22. sweetpea says:

    I’m likely in the minority but he’s still delish to me…it’s probably the accent…*sigh*

  23. ClaireNZ says:

    God he was so gorgeous in ‘Dear Frankie’ – I have never quite gotten over it. But unfortunately he seems to have lost it a bit.

  24. 4evaRedd says:

    I simply cannot get enough of him. I’ll be one of his randoms.

  25. dweeb says:

    stop the man love…you know those two are teasing us and the gay fans. damn