There has been speculation for a few years now about Chadwick Boseman and his weight. It’s true that Chadwick reached the height of his name-recognition for playing T’Challa in Black Panther, where he bulked up significantly for the role. Of course when he’s not in a T’Challa cycle, he’s not going to be training as hard and he’s not going to have that kind of muscle mass. But even if we acknowledge that, it definitely seems like Chadwick loses a dramatic amount of weight in between roles. He’s argued – or his fans have argued – that he’s lost weight to play certain characters, much like Christian Bale has done dramatic physical transformations too. But… I’ve always thought that Bale had profoundly disordered eating and he was using his “craft” to mask it. Is Chadwick doing the same?
Chadwick posted this video to his Instagram on Wednesday, but he took it down when people were in his comments, talking about his weight loss. The point of the video was that he was celebrating Jackie Robinson Day (4/15) and celebrate a donation by “Thomas Tull’s #Operation42… of 4.2 million dollars in personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals that service the African American Communities who have been hit the hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic.” Except, again, no one could see past his drawn, dramatically thin face.
No one really knows what’s happening. It feels gross and invasive to make guesses about what’s going on, but all I’ll say is that I have legitimately noticed that it’s been happening for a while, and that he has been going up and down (and down and down) in size for a few years now. I hope he’s okay.
Chadwick posted these photos to his social media. When were these taken though??
Throwing it back to the ultimate game changer. Thank you to my friend Thomas Tull for launching #Operation42 to celebrate #JackieRobinsonDay and deliver $4.2M in masks and vital personal protective equipment to hospitals in African American communities devastated by #Covid19. pic.twitter.com/GNt6LE07Li
— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) April 16, 2020
From November 2019:
Photos courtesy of Getty, Boseman’s social media.
Yes, his face does look alarmingly thin, but I wonder if it for a role? At least I hope it is!
Well if it’s for a role then that sucks because we don’t know when any of us will go back to “normal” life and work. Hollywood isn’t starting up anytime soon. He won’t be able to keep that weight off if it’s not his normal body weight. It would be unhealthy to keep the weight off for a movie that might not be in production for another year.
Christian Bale only dropped or gained weight for roles. Luckily he no longer is doing that.
As for Chadwick apparently he’s lost weight for a role but given the present circumstances I hope he safely regsind weight.
That’s a really great cause he’s promoting, its a shame it gets lost in the reaction to his appearance. I do hope he’s okay.
Yes and yes. Not to minimize it if he is having health issues but it feels so on brand for Americans especially to overlook the substance and focus on the superficial. Sigh.
Rapid or drastic weight loss, in someone who is by no means obese or overweight prior to it, can be an indicator of serious health issues (not superficial ones, but issues that can be fatal like cancer, an eating disorder, some kind of parasite or out of control drug use). I don’t follow him or know him personally, so I won’t make any kind of claim to worry about him for any of those issues. But I don’t think it’s superficial to notice when a recognizable figure shows up looking dramatically different to the point of looking ill, because they could be struggling with something like cancer and maybe some support could help them. Hope he is okay, just like I hope everyone out there is as okay as they can be in a pandemic.
BTW Esmom, Chadwick is American, as am I. We are not ALL superficial assholes just because some are.
i hope he is ok
Omg, he looks too thin in the face. I too hope he is ok. His body was ahmazing in black panther
Using food restriction as a means to feel in control can happen to any person of any gender, and income level, etc. Of course I’m just assuming that that’s what happening here… that tends to be what’s happening with this kind of thing though.
I hope he will be OK, and get the help he needs to have a healthy relationship with food and his body. It must have been really hard for him to get this backlash. Maybe it will spur him to reach out for help, or for someone close to him to have that hard conversation. I think people might not realize that this isn’t something that just happens to young, white women.
We can’t know that and it’s not fair to speculate that he has an eating disorder.
And definitely mocking people over their weight always works. I know when you call someone fat, and haunt them off of twitter with yells of “fattie fattie!’ they totally lose weight. It’s surefire.
This is true…but, I know I’ve lost my appetite due to this pandemic. My spouse is an MD, I worry about him every single day. We revised our will a month ago.
Darla I don’t think shaming people over their weight is good at all, I did not mean to imply that. I just mean, since it has already happened and it can’t be changed now, I hope it will turn into a positive for him and open a conversation for him with those close to him, if he does indeed need some help right now.
I can’t find anywhere to actually donate to this.
Hopefully he’s ok, it may be an illness, stress, or for a role, but it’s a shame people let that overshadow the great and important cause he was promoting.
I looked too and all I found was that Russell Westbrook and some other NBA players were also donating to it. Googling “Operation 42” just pulls up links about Chadwick’s appearance or Westbrook’s donation and there’s nothing on the Figs website.
He was trying to help people, and do good. And for something so important. I wish people had just left him alone. I thought the entire thing was just cruel and unnecessary.
Exactly – body policing, concern trolling is a lousy thing to do no matter who the target is.
He did lose weight/BP build for his role in Spike Lee’s film. He plays a soldier in the throws of PTSD. Don’t know if filming is complete or they will have to return.
If it’s for a role, I guess I could understand. He doesn’t look good right now so I hope he’s okay. I hate that ppl were making comments under his post about it instead of paying attention to what he was saying.
Sucks that a good cause was ignored for something so superficial.
I love him and hope he is ok. I don’t want to speculate that feels gross but I do hope he’s ok.
Not gonna speculate on Chadwick, but as far as Christian Bale goes, there’s no way he wasn’t on a steroid cycle when his weight was fluctuating so wildly. It’s not humanly possible to go from dangerously underweight in The Machinist to 250lbs of muscle in Batman Begins in 8 months. It might not even be possible in 2 years, considering that you can’t just go from not eating at all straight into a bodybuilding diet without causing serious, permanent damage to your kidneys and metabolism.
I’m going to assume this is for a role beause I’m not speculating about an ED. I wish actors would stop doing this. You pay a price. Matthew McC and Christian Bale aged pretty quickly there for a few years, their faces never went back to “normal”. Mila Kunis has talked about how getting super thing for Black Swan changed her body shape and the way weight settled on her. Anne Hathaway has also gotten very very slim for Batman and let’t not even discuss Les Misérables.
Just stop it and stop giving them awards for doing it.
It is so gross the way Hollywood industry fetishizes this dramatic weight gain and weight loss.
For the Devil Wears Prada, Anne Hathaway had to gain weight and then lose weight during filming!
I’m not sure if he just has naturally sad eyes but he has seemed less than happy at events he attended in the recent past.
I hope he’s okay and gets help if he’s struggling with mental health issues. He seems like a good guy
“But… I’ve always thought that Bale had profoundly disordered eating and he was using his “craft” to mask it.”
What a ridiculous and irresponsible thing to say.
I don’t think it’s rude or irresponsible to politely question why someone with a public profile looks dramatically different from when we saw them last.
Any severe weight gain or weight loss is a cause for concern.
Chadwick is so talented and there isn’t a lot of rope given to black actors who have interior struggles. There’s no Robert Downey Jr road to redemption for them (heck the road is narrow for a lot of white actors). So, I hope he is okay, stays COVID19-free and understands the questioning comes from the fact he does appear so different.
I think it’s quite rude – particularly considering what he was trying to talk about. I hope he doesn’t read the comments.
It’s gross, like pregnancy speculation. Let the man live. Listen to what he is SAYING.
Thank you very much Boseman, that so amazing for your service. Keep on shining 🎁
He could also be struggling with an illness he doesn’t want to discuss. Love his work and hope he’s okay.
That’s what I was going to write, or it is for a role, OR it can be stress caused by the lockdown, the first two weeks I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep it took me a while to adjust me in this situation.
I hope he’s OK. I really admire him as an actor and now knowing about his involvement with Operation 42, he’s even more inspiring.
I’m not going to speculate about any aesthetic or appearance here. What is shameful is that the charity he was trying to promote was completely overlooked.
Hope he is ok.
Omg, imagine if it’s for a role and production has halted and he’s stuck in limbo not knowing when they will resume. It won’t be healthy for him to maintain that weight while we wait for COVID-19 to disappear. I hope he’s getting the support he needs. It also sucks that people overlooked his message and then wrote a ton of comments about his appearance.