Matt Damon Opens Up About How Drastic Weight Changes for His Acting Roles Have Triggered Bouts With Depression and Anxiety

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Bill Simmons was joined by Matt Damon on his podcast The Bill Simmons Podcast, to discuss, among many things, his drastic weight changes throughout his career in Hollywood, all for different acting roles.

Starting out with the question from Bill Simmons on whether Matt Damon broke “the record for the most career body transformation roles?” Matt responded with stories from both ends of the spectrum. For the movie Courage Under Fire, he was at his lowest, almost 130 pounds, and as Bill said, he really “almost died.”

Matt went into a bit of his workout routine and diet, essentially a diet of barely any food and 13 miles of running a day. He couldn’t afford a trainer at the time, so, one of his friends, who happened to be an Australian body builder, gave him his three week intensive body building routine for before a show, and Matt did this routine for 14 to 16 weeks.

This drastic weight loss screwed up his adrenal glands and gave him both depression and anxiety. Matt was on medication from his doctor for almost a year and a half after that, and, as his doctor explained to him,“I tricked my system into thinking a bear was chasing me for like four months.”

On the other end, when asked about his most drastic weight gain for a role, he said it was for the film The Informant. He gained around 40 pounds, all because Steven Soderbergh did not want “any defined lines.”

The rest of the episode discusses his journey through Hollywood with Ben Affleck, Rounders, Goodwill Hunting, the 1990s class of actors, baseball, and more.

Listen above.