Jesse Plemons knows a thing or two about making big changes — and his body is no exception.
The Fargo alum, who kicked off his career on Friday Night Lights and Breaking Bad before becoming a bonafide movie star, spoke candidly about gaining weight in order to portray mobster Kevin Weeks in 2015’s Black Mass.
After playing the real-life gangster in the crime film, Plemons told GQ in 2016 that the pounds “carried over” to his starring role on Fargo.
The Power of the Dog actor had a sense of humor about the public’s reaction to his weight gain. “Everyone’s like, ‘You gained all this weight!’ I was like, ‘No, I’ve been fat for a while now,’” he joked at the time.
One year prior, he quipped that he had “no clothes [that] fit,” telling The Hollywood Reporter, “I could wear like two pairs of pants and four shirts.”
Still, the public’s response also made him “more empathetic to what women go through” when it comes to being body-shamed.
“My God! Men in general are just not held under the same microscope in that way,” the Academy Award nominee, who shares sons Ennis and James with wife Kirsten Dunst, acknowledged in the interview.
Dunst, who wed Plemons in 2022, has also been open about facing body criticism in the limelight.
The Bring It On star, who first rose to fame with 1994’s Interview With a Vampire, told Net-A-Porter’s PorterEdit in 2019 that being in the spotlight at a young age actually helped her deal with any negative comments that came her way later on.
“The benefit of growing up with [celebrity] is that I have a very healthy perspective of being an actress,” the Spider-Man actress shared, delving into her philosophy on her postpartum body after giving birth to her and Plemons’ eldest son, Ennis, in May 2018.
“I haven’t worked out once since I had my baby,” she elaborated at the time. “I’m not one of those people who says [affects a funny voice], ‘Ohhh I have to get my abs back.’ I feel like I’ve established myself as an actress.”
Plemons, too, doesn’t seem to pay much attention to any commentary about his body.
After shedding some of the weight he gained for Black Mass, the actor recalled telling a red carpet reporter his surprisingly simple diet advice.
“I had lost a little bit of weight at the Fargo premiere, and I remember this guy asking, like, ‘What’s your secret to losing the weight? Tell us!’” the Love & Death star told GQ in 2016. “I was like, ‘Well, I was eating everything, and then I just stopped eating terrible food.’ It’s not too complicated.”
Keep scrolling to see Plemons’ body transformation over the years:
