From self-erasure to self-mastery: Ethan Suplee's second act

"Ethan Suplee is half the man he used to be. Literally. At his heaviest, the Hollywood actor weighed about 550 pounds. That's large enough that it maxed out most standard scales, so Suplee stood on one used for weighing shipping containers instead. Today, at 250 pounds, he's regularly described as "unrecognizable" by people once they realize that the bearded, muscular man making the fitness podcast rounds was once Frankie, the chubby bully on Boy Meets World, and lovable Louie from Remember the Titans."

"For Suplee, being someone else was easy. The man who has acted alongside the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, Denzel Washington, and Johnny Depp first got into acting at age 16 simply to get out of school. Growing up in Los Angeles, he saw his peers going for auditions and acting gigs, and he wanted in. By then, his weight was already making him the target of bullies and snide comments, but acting, he discovered early on, was the perfect escape."

Ethan Suplee weighed about 550 pounds at his heaviest and regularly had scales max out, prompting him to use a shipping-container scale. He now weighs approximately 250 pounds and is frequently described as unrecognizable by people who knew him as bulky TV characters. He documents his transformation on the American Glutton podcast and social platforms and works as a fitness influencer. He began acting at 16 to escape school and bullying, finding admiration but not self-acceptance. He turned to alcohol and drugs to avoid being himself and has acknowledged an addictive personality tied to wanting to be anyone but himself.

Read at Big Think