Chris Pratt used to be a stripper: ‘I was very free, so I thought, I may as well get paid’

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This ^^ is a selfie Chris Pratt took and posted on his Instagram earlier this year. Chris spent much of 2012 falling into a vat of M&Ms, cheese fries and cake, and then he quickly took the weight off when he got a role in Guardians of the Galaxy. Chris is currently promoting Delivery Man, that sappy-looking comedy where he plays second fiddle to Vince Vaughn, and Chris gave a new interview to Buzzfeed to promote the film. I also just glanced through some photos of Pratt at the premiere a few nights ago, and I guess he’s gaining weight again. For “comedy”. Anyway, this Buzzfeed piece is good – Chris talks about his past as a stripper, why he gained the weight last year (and how it affected him) and lots of other stuff. You can read the full piece here, and here are some highlights:

His stripper past: “I was always a very much naked person. I loved to always get naked. I was very free, so I thought, I may as well get paid… I was never like Magic Mike, you know. I did go one time and audition on a stage for a club, but I don’t think I got the job. I don’t think I’m a very good dancer.”

Other odd jobs: “I cleaned peoples’ cars, painted murals, worked for my dad, worked at a burger joint, was a room service waiter, worked at the snack bar at a bingo hall. I babysat and mowed lawns; I picked blackberries and sold them. I was always very enterprising as a kid. I was always trying to find some way to make money.”

The premise of Delivery Man, which has Vaughn’s character fathering 500 children, all from hundreds of sperm bank donations: “That’s totally reasonable. If I only gave a quarter of my sperm donations to a clinic, I could still do it. In my late teens and early twenties? Oh jeez, you could have taken that much sperm out just by doing my laundry, or cleaning my sheets and laundering my socks… If I thought about it, I would have made a fortune myself.”

Putting on 60 pounds to play second fiddle to Vaughn: “What I wanted to sell with this character was his sense of despondency and desperation. He’s a guy who’s stuck with four children at home, and often times, we wear our insides on our outsides. This is a guy who’s talking about how much he dislikes children, and how much he dislikes being a parent, and trying to discourage David Wozniak from becoming a parent. And if I was in good shape, and saying those things, I had a sense that it’d come off as being less likable. Saying those things gives off a sense of confidence, a sense of brashness, or even potential arrogance. But, if his insides are revealed on the way I look on the outsides, there’d be a sense of irony and a sense of likability.”

He weighed 295 pounds (his goal was to weigh 300 lbs): “By gaining a s–t ton of weight, I affected not only the way I looked, but also that rhythm. I felt terrible. I felt mentally dull. I felt that I wasn’t fulfilling my duties as a husband in the bedroom. I felt no sexual desire. I felt really, legitimately depressed. And it wasn’t the first time I’ve been big through the course of my life. I’ve always been just teetering on that scale and I’ve been bigger for different roles. And when I’m big, I have body image issues just like anybody else.”

[From Buzzfeed]

I get a very quiet pleasure when men admit that they have moments of feeling what most women feel on a daily basis. Does anyone else get pleasure from that? Like, I love when a dude talks about obsessing over calories or how he feels fat or even how he feels objectified. It’s like, join the f—king club, dude. I made t-shirts. THIS is what women deal with on a daily basis. I always hope that the men who deal with these kinds of issues will have a greater understanding into the female experience. But who knows.

And while I see Chris’s point about wanting to look schlubby for this film, it also feels like… ugh, he was just doing it for a cheesy Vince Vaughn movie? It’s not like this is awards season fare. It’s just a silly Vince Vaughn comedy. I guess we’re supposed to think he’s just so committed and Method. Is that what you think?

Last thing: I have no judgment about Chris’s stripper past, just like I had no judgment about Channing Tatum’s stripper past AND Diablo Cody’s stripper past. But if an actress did come out and talk about how she supported herself in the early years as a stripper… there would be a big difference in how the mainstream media covered it, right?

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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46 Responses to “Chris Pratt used to be a stripper: ‘I was very free, so I thought, I may as well get paid’”

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  1. eliza says:

    This dude annoys me for no particular reason and now even more so since I see he is into selfies.

    • Dani2 says:

      lol yes he definitely has one of the most punchable faces in Hollywood, never liked him and I can’t seem to pin down the particular reason why..

    • TheOriginalKitten says:

      YES! I was expecting the usual Pratt-love on this thread.

      Glad to see the first comments reflect exactly how I feel.

      Very punchable, super annoying, and very douchey guy.

      • Eve says:

        Hear, hear. Can’t stand him.

        I think this one is a certified douchebag. If he gives off the douche vibe now that he’s just a C, maybe a B lister, just wait until he becomes more famous to see his true colours.

        I’m conflicted about Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” — I really want to see it, but don’t want to endorse anything he’s in.

      • blue marie says:

        I have a confession, I didn’t have a huge problem with him until I started reading both OKitt and Eve’s responses. But now the dude can go take a flying leap.

      • Jo 'Mama' Besser says:

        Ha, ha!!

    • Brittaki says:

      Liar liar, pants on fire. He probably just wasn’t able to maintain his physique and slipped back into his old ways, then touted his weight gain as being for the “art.” Pffft.

    • Relli says:

      I am goign to admit something I never would tell anyone in real life. I watched Everwood when it was on the air and I really liked him, so cute…. UNTIL

      He tried to justify to everyone on twitter giving away their cat because he was old and they didn’t want to deal with him while they “trying to get pregnant.” Giving away an animal because you don’t want them anymore is a HUGE pet peeve of mine (this is probably because my parents gave away my dog as a child and I was heartbroken and even worse he went to live with my uncle and so even though I got to see him a lot I knew he always wondered why he wasn’t coming home with me). DOUCHE.

      • Eve says:

        Not only that but when people confronted him for giving the (20 year old) cat away on Twitter one of his answers was that if they (the people) had or were trying to have children they would undersstand, and if they didn’t that “would explain why they had such a hard on for cats”. Then ended it with “just sayin'”.

        I was going to say his face is almost as punchable as Seth MacFarlane’s, but then I remembered that MacFarlane, as much as I find him a douchebag of the highest order, has given money and support to several charities and when asked about that he said: “Cause animals are better than people”.

        http://animalfair.com/seth-macfarlane-hollywoods-feline-family-guy/

        P.S.: At least you got to see him, who knows what happened to Faris’s cat…I hope she went to a good home, but I can’t help thinking about the poor thing being abandoned twice: first by whoever too care of her in Hollywood when it was no longer a cute cat (she “played” Snowbell in Stuart Little), then by Anna Faris and her husband.

      • Relli says:

        Yes EXACTLY Eve, ever since then I am like PFFFT who cares about him and when he shows up in movies I can see my you disgust me face in the reflection of the TV screen. He is just some bro-dude who lucked out with a legit acting and hot/cool wife.

        It was great to still see him and even when he was starting to get old he would run/hobble out to greet me what was tough was when we would leave he would chase the car until it hit the paved road (my uncle lives in the country). My parents always acted like it was so cute but to me it was like “hey guys I think you forgot something!” And I know it sounds weird but I firmly believe that he came back to me in the form of the dog I have today same adventurous spirit, same stubborn attitude but incredibly smart, and his love of kittens. They even tip their heads the same way and when I met my dog it was like we had always known each other all our lives. It was love at first sight.

      • Eve says:

        My story (mother getting rid of my cat when I was eleven) is much sadder — I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye, my mother certainly didn’t find her a good home (in Brazil, there’s this stupid mindset that if you abandon a cat it will do just fine, it can fend for itself), she simply asked one of my brothers to leave her in a neighbourhood from where she couldn’t possibly find her way back. And indeed she couldn’t as I never saw her again.

        They did it while I was at school. My mother is dead now, but I still haven’t been able to forgive her for this — to be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to. It was such a cowardly thing to do.

        And all I have thought all these years is how lost and lonely the poor thing must have felt. That is, if something worse didn’t happen. That’s why I said you were lucky to have been able to see your dog again.

        OK, I have to stop now.

      • Becky1 says:

        I never heard that story. That’s terrible! Who would give away a 20 year old cat? Honestly, it really would have been more humane at that point to put the poor animal to sleep. Also, why would you write about it on Twitter?? I know plenty of people who have pets before, during and after their pregnancies. It’s one thing if the pet is a threat to your child but obviously this wasn’t the case. She wasn’t even pregnant yet and they used that as an excuse to give away the cat? That’s just weird.

      • Eve says:

        @ Becky1:

        He didn’t just talk about it on Twitter– he gave the cat away ON Twitter.

        He offered the cat to his followers (and, I believe, to other people as well — I saw one of his tweets welcoming Amanda Knox back home, saying “#amandaknox so happy for you and your family!!! Want a cat?” ), to anyone who would take it/people he didn’t even know.

      • Jo 'Mama' Besser says:

        People rag on me all of the time for not being much of an animal person. I like them well enough, but not enough to want to live with one and that would hold even if I weren’t allergic to everything even remotely affiliated with nature. Tell me I’m a jerk because I don’t care if people know that I care more about people than I do about animals, it wouldn’t be the first time. But I’m heartless for much more interesting reasons than that.

      • Eve says:

        @ Jomama:

        You don’t care about animals like you do about people, Honestly, you can do and feel whatever/however you want. As long as you don’t physically abuse them, that’s fine by me.

        But I will never understand your need to belittle and ridicule the ones who DO care about animals. I’ve never ridiculed the ones who cared more about people than animals — it’s not my personal cause, but it’s a valid one so I don’t write things like the “Ha ha!!” you wrote above or “Boo hoo” (like you replied to OKitten on another thread) to them for doing so.

      • Jo 'Mama' Besser says:

        I think you’ve got your wires crossed on my reply. That was in response to the remark about selfies, not Kitten.

        I wouldn’t sell a cat on Twitter, who knows where it would end up?

        I’m not keen on abuse of any sort.

        There was no ‘boo hoo’ to be found.

        In future, please make sure that incidents to which you refer have actually happened because it completely changes the conversation when you’re operating under such a huge misapprehension on the nature of my comment .

      • Eve says:

        @ Jo ‘Mama’ Besser:

        There was a Jomama/jomama commenting on another thread (about Chris Pratt) where the “giving the cat away on Twitter” subject came up and she, among many insults directed at me and Original Kitten, wrote things like “Boo hoo!”. She trolled the thread so much that many of her comments were removed, but here it is:

        http://www.celebitchy.com/255173/chris_pratt_is_ballooning_up_to_300_lbs_for_a_role_would_you_still_hit_it_/

        My sincere apologies if I mistook you for someone else. I wrongly assumed “Jomama” was another way you spelled your monicker.

  2. aims says:

    Yes there’s definitely a double standard when it comes to that sort of thing. It’s unfair, but once again my gender gets the short stick. on a related note, I’d gladly stuff a few singles in his g string.

    • KC says:

      It pisses me off too. Woe betide the woman who would admit to stripping. There have even been guys who admitted to prostitution. IIRC Thomas Jane only backtracked because his admission carried homosexual connotations otherwise they were no issues around the selling sex part.

    • Grant says:

      I just want to qualify everything by saying that, as a gay man, I think about calorie intake, body image, fitness, and overall aesthetic on a daily basis, and I think I can speak for a large number of the gay community when I offer that anecdotal evidence. Being a large gay man is almost as difficult as being a large woman in the heterosexual dating pool.

      • nicegirl says:

        Thank you for your comment, Grant. I think it helps (me, at least!) to be reminded of the experiences of others.

  3. Post It's says:

    I like him better chubby.

  4. Renee says:

    Is anyone else getting James Franco vibes from the second photo?

  5. Kit2 says:

    Women have always been shamed for being “free” with their bodies/sexuality, just as men have always been shamed for being cowards (see for example the “White Feather Campaign”). Throughout history men and women have each had their crosses to bear… neither sex has had it easy, or things handed to them on a silver platter. Both genders worked like dogs from sunrise to sunset until very recently, and in less developed parts of the world (and some parts of the developed world too) they still do.

    It’s difficult for men to relate the women’s issues in the same way it’s difficult for women to relate to men’s issues. In wartime women don’t have to worry about getting drafted, for instance. Not yet anyway.

    • A says:

      Thanks for saying this! Though I think in most parts of the world women’s rights need to be taken more seriously, I don’t think that women putting down men as people who have it all is constructive (or true).

  6. Torisan says:

    What I’ve always found very interesting is that many women condemn other women who strip for a living, but think its perfectly okay for a man to be stripper. Why the double standard?

  7. Stephanie says:

    He cracks me up on Parks & Rec. However, mirror selfies are never a good look IMO.

  8. Mylene - Montreal says:

    The original movie .. Starbuck .. come from Montreal. It is a french movie and it’s EXCELLENT. They take the same director so the movie will be good maybe

  9. Feebee says:

    Only guys get to get away with that stripping mindset.

  10. Arock says:

    He is so cute, I don’t know know what you all are talking about. He’s adorable on parks and rec and was surprisingly good in black hawk down. I kind of squee when I see him.

  11. carol says:

    if he were a woman, admitting that he used to be a stripper would be career suicide. Sigh. Sometimes I hate he world we live in.

  12. Marianne says:

    I doubt he’s really getting chubby for comedy. I think he just a guy that struggles with his weight.

  13. Lee says:

    The reaction would very different if it were a woman stating she was previously a stripper. It wouldn’t matter if it was because she was trying to payoff medical bills for a sick relative or if she was stripping her way through med school – if i woman came out in Hollywood and said this she would be viewed as a play thing – plain and simple. Her career options would probably become very singular – the girl willing to take her clothes off in parts. And not in a Halle Barry-your-career-is-respected-way, probably more along of the lines of Tara Reid credibility.

    Guys can strip and talk about being free. If a woman talks about stripping and being free – well then, game over.

  14. poppy says:

    all i hear when i see his face is “i fell into the ditch”

  15. shab says:

    posting selfies like that is so vain. If a woman did it she’d be called all sorts of names.

  16. MOPine says:

    He’s got a cute smile and happy eyes!

  17. anon33 says:

    I would pay to see him strip. Without question.
    /off to my bunk

  18. St says:

    Oh Chris, why can’t you just shut your mouth and don’t eat that much. He is so hot and nice looking guy. But he always is letting himself go. Was chubby on Parcs and Rec, then wen athletic for Moneyball, then went fat again, then went fit for playing soldier in Zero Dark 30, then went fat again on Parcs and Rec, then went super slim and sexy for Guardians… and guess what – it looks like he will let himself go once again and will be chubby and “pregnant” until he will get another “athletic” role when he would have to put himself in shape. He just likes to eat and can’t stop.

    Dear producers – please cast him more as some sport players, soldiers or superheroes. So that he would go in shape. Because he is so impossibly hot when he is normal size.

  19. Torisan says:

    Most strippers do it because they need the money. It is a job. Nothing wrong with that.

  20. miasys says:

    This dude is an ass. That story about the cat pissed me off all over again. A man who ditches his responsibilities when they become inconvenient is not someone you should want to have children with. Then again, I gave my diabetic cat insulin shots and paid for laser surgery for my daughter’s gerbil. So maybe I’m not exactly the voice of reason here.

  21. Baskingshark says:

    Ugh, I never heard that cat story and it makes me sad because I always liked Anna Faris.

    Also, re: the stripping, all I have to say is pics or it didn’t happen.