Celebrities Who Quit Vegan or Vegetarian Diets: See Who Needed to Make a Change

Credit: Gregory Pace/Shutterstock (2)

Celebrities Who Quit Vegan or Vegetarian Diets: See Who Needed to Make a Change

Sticking to a restrictive diet isn’t always easy! While many celebrities have embraced vegetarian or vegan eating regimens over time, some stars ultimately decided to put an end to the limiting meals in order to remain healthy. Take Liam Hemsworth, for example. In an April 2020 interview with Men’s Health, the Independence Day: Resurgence star revealed that his vegan diet, which he had been on for about four years, contributed to a “painful” kidney stone he had in 2019 that warranted a hospital stay. “I was doing press for Isn’t It Romantic. But I had to go to the hospital and get surgery,” he told the outlet. Though Hemsworth said he’s “all good now,” the health scare forced him to take a closer look at what he was eating. “Once you get one kidney stone, you have a 50 percent chance of getting another one if you continue eating the way you were eating,” he explained. “My particular kidney stone was a calciumoxalate kidney stone. It forms from having too much oxalate in your diet. Oxalates are really high in a lot of vegetables, specifically spinach, almonds, beetroot, potatoes.” [jwplayer 15y2kwfi-l3ahXupL] Since the Love and Honor star’s “super healthy” daily breakfast consisted of “five handfuls of spinach and then almond milk, almond butter, and also some vegan protein in a smoothie,” he knew he had to alter his meals in a big way for the sake of his health. As he put it, “I had to completely rethink what I was putting in my body.” Natalie Portman, who has long been a fan of not only a plant-based diet but a vegan lifestyle, had to temporarily reevaluate what she was eating when she got pregnant with her first child in 2011. Instead of being strictly vegan, the No Strings Attached star opted for a vegetarian diet while expecting instead. “I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy,” she told radio Q100 in April 2011. [ami-related id="1740626" url="https://www.usmagazine.com/food/pictures/kim-kardashian-martha-stewart-more-share-their-cheat-meals/" title="Stars Share Their Ultimate Cheat Meals " target="" showsubt="false" thumb="false" imgsrc="https://www.usmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Ultimate-Cheat-Meals.jpg"] However, once her son Aleph was born, Portman switched back to her plant-based ways. In fact, as she told Us Weekly exclusively in June 2018, Aleph and her daughter Amalia, who was born in February 2017, are vegan as well. “It comes really naturally because I think, you know, you tend to make one thing that everyone eats for dinner,” she explained at the time. “We tend to eat vegan and vegetarian food in the house. It becomes like the normal stuff that kids get used to.” Instead of meat and dairy, Portman chows down on plant-based alternatives. “There’s tempeh bacon, you know, coconut milk, yogurt, cheese is made out of cashews and all sorts of delicious things that they’ve figured out that are great replacements for those things you crave,” she told Us. Scroll down to see more stars who quit their vegetarian and vegan diets! [podcast_block]

Credit: Gregory Pace/Shutterstock (2)

Celebrities Who Quit Vegan or Vegetarian Diets: See Who Needed to Make a Change

Sticking to a restrictive diet isn’t always easy! While many celebrities have embraced vegetarian or vegan eating regimens over time, some stars ultimately decided to put an end to the limiting meals in order to remain healthy. Take Liam Hemsworth, for example. In an April 2020 interview with Men’s Health, the Independence Day: Resurgence star revealed that his vegan diet, which he had been on for about four years, contributed to a “painful” kidney stone he had in 2019 that warranted a hospital stay. “I was doing press for Isn’t It Romantic. But I had to go to the hospital and get surgery,” he told the outlet. Though Hemsworth said he’s “all good now,” the health scare forced him to take a closer look at what he was eating. “Once you get one kidney stone, you have a 50 percent chance of getting another one if you continue eating the way you were eating,” he explained. “My particular kidney stone was a calciumoxalate kidney stone. It forms from having too much oxalate in your diet. Oxalates are really high in a lot of vegetables, specifically spinach, almonds, beetroot, potatoes.” [jwplayer 15y2kwfi-l3ahXupL] Since the Love and Honor star’s “super healthy” daily breakfast consisted of “five handfuls of spinach and then almond milk, almond butter, and also some vegan protein in a smoothie,” he knew he had to alter his meals in a big way for the sake of his health. As he put it, “I had to completely rethink what I was putting in my body.” Natalie Portman, who has long been a fan of not only a plant-based diet but a vegan lifestyle, had to temporarily reevaluate what she was eating when she got pregnant with her first child in 2011. Instead of being strictly vegan, the No Strings Attached star opted for a vegetarian diet while expecting instead. “I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy,” she told radio Q100 in April 2011. [ami-related id="1740626" url="https://www.usmagazine.com/food/pictures/kim-kardashian-martha-stewart-more-share-their-cheat-meals/" title="Stars Share Their Ultimate Cheat Meals " target="" showsubt="false" thumb="false" imgsrc="https://www.usmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Ultimate-Cheat-Meals.jpg"] However, once her son Aleph was born, Portman switched back to her plant-based ways. In fact, as she told Us Weekly exclusively in June 2018, Aleph and her daughter Amalia, who was born in February 2017, are vegan as well. “It comes really naturally because I think, you know, you tend to make one thing that everyone eats for dinner,” she explained at the time. “We tend to eat vegan and vegetarian food in the house. It becomes like the normal stuff that kids get used to.” Instead of meat and dairy, Portman chows down on plant-based alternatives. “There’s tempeh bacon, you know, coconut milk, yogurt, cheese is made out of cashews and all sorts of delicious things that they’ve figured out that are great replacements for those things you crave,” she told Us. Scroll down to see more stars who quit their vegetarian and vegan diets! [podcast_block]

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Beyonce

The "Love on Top" singer knew her time as a vegan would be temporary. She took the 22-day Vegan Diet Challenge, but the Texas native didn't ditch meat forever. Still, the singer tries to stick to a lot of plant-based meals.  

"The benefits of a plant-based diet need to be known," Beyoncé told The New York Times in 2015. "We should spend more time loving ourselves, which means taking better care of ourselves with good nutrition and making healthier food choices."

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Jonathan Van Ness

The Queer Eye star still enjoys a plant-based meals, but he is no longer vegan because he was doing it for the wrong reasons.

"So I was really into veganism when I was like 22-26," he told Allure in September 2019. "But the thing that was really driving it more than that was my desire to be loved and accepted by men, so I thought I needed to be skinnier and like lose weight, so I did."

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Miley Cyrus

During a September 2020 interview on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, the "Wrecking Ball" songstress revealed that she had to incorporate fish into her diet after being a vegan for six years because she wasn't feeling well. "I was vegan for a very long time and I've had to introduce fish and omegas into my life because my brain wasn't functioning properly," she told Rogan. "Now I'm so much sharper."

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Wendy Williams

The talk show host shared a major diet update with her social media followers via Instagram in August 2020. "Many are STILL thinking I'm vegan, vegetarian, gluten free etc. I am no longer any of them," she captioned a snapshot of a bowl of watermelon. "I eat what I want, when I want & my doctors feel it's working for ME plus I’ve lost lots of weight during social distance."

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Denise Richards

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star confirmed she ditched her vegetarian diet in a July 2020 interview with Women's Health. "I was a vegetarian for years and one day not that long ago I started eating a little more like protein and it actually felt good," she told the outlet. "I felt like I was full in a healthy way."

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Liam Hemsworth

The Hunger Games star revealed in April 2020 that he gave up his vegan diet after experiencing some frightening health issues. “I was vegan for almost four years, and then February of last year I was feeling lethargic. Then I got a kidney stone. It was one of the most painful weeks of my life,” he told Men’s Health at the time. “I was doing press for Isn’t It Romantic. But I had to go to the hospital and get surgery.” The Australian hunk had to “completely rethink” his diet, which now includes more than just plant-based foods.

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Anne Hathaway

The Ocean’s 8 star stuck to a strict diet without meat or animal products for several years, but in the June 2019 issue of Tatler magazine, she revealed that she’d given up her plant-based diet a few years earlier at the urging of her Interstellar costar, Matt Damon. The duo were dining at a Michelin-star restaurant in Iceland and Damon declared he was ready to eat whatever the chef wanted to serve him. Hathaway followed his lead and wound up feasting on fresh fish. “So I had a piece of salmon and my brain felt like a computer rebooting,” she explained.

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Ellen DeGeneres

The daytime talk show host began following a vegan diet around 2008, but in only lasted for a few years. In her 2019 Netflix stand-up comedy special, Relatable, the comedian told a joke about being vegan but followed it with, "I'm not really vegan, I say it for the joke … I was vegan for eight years and I really believe that it's great for you."

The star continued: ”I was healthier than I'd ever been, I loved being vegan. But just in the last year or two, for no reason really, I started eating a piece of fish once in a while. And I'll eat eggs from chickens I know — if they are in someone's backyard and they're wandering around and they're happy."

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Bob Harper

The Biggest Loser trainer was famously vegan before suffering a heart attack in February 2017. After his health scare, The Skinny Rules author began incorporating fish into his diet. “To all the vegans out there that follow me and tell me that I’m gonna have another heart attack if I continue to eat fish, PLEASE refrain from posting those awful comments. They are just plain hateful and mean,” he wrote on Instagram in March 2017. “I will continue to do what my doctors feel is right for me in my situation so please just unfollow me instead. In the words of one of my best friends, you do you and I’ll do me. #heartattacksurvivor #noroomforhaters.”

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Derek Hough

The Dancing With the Stars alum told Us in August 2017 that he was following a vegan diet at the time, but he couldn’t keep the plant-based eating regime for long. By November of that year the Footloose star had given into his meat cravings.

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Jared Leto

When the My So-Called Life alum was asked about his youthful appearance by Rolling Stone in July 2016, he credited his plant-based eating regimen and sleep, but he also revealed that he’s been known to bend the rules of his strictly vegan diet from time to time. “I’m actually a ‘cheagan’ — a cheating vegan,” he clarified to the publication. “I don’t eat meat ever. But if someone’s mom made a cookie and handed it to me, I’d probably take a bite, or if I’m in Alaska and there’s wild salmon out of the river, I’d probably eat it.”

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Zooey Deschanel

Though the New Girl alum once followed a vegan diet, she told Health magazine in April 2011 that she no longer sticks to a strictly plant-baed eating regimen because her various food allergies made it nearly impossible. “I have a lot of food sensitivities — I can't eat wheat or soy — and it was very difficult to eat and get enough calories,” she explained at the time. “It was even impossible to eat at a vegan restaurant.”

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Dax Shepard

The Parenthood alum and his wife Kristen Bell adopted vegan diets in 2012 after watching Forks Over Knives, a documentary about the importance of plant-based eating, but didn’t stick to it. In fact, the Hit and Run star outed himself in June 2013 when PETA named him one of its “Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities.” He tweeted at the time: “I'm really flattered to be named 'Sexiest Vegetarian' with ‪@IMKristenBell, but sadly I can't accept in good conscience because I eat chicken‬.” In a follow-up tweet Shepard explained that he'd been "vegan for a year, but that ended 6 months ago.”

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Kristen Bell

In October 2017, the Veronica Mars alum revealed that she ditched her vegan diet for good while she was pregnant with her first child in 2012 and 2013. “During my first pregnancy, I was working and it felt like I needed more calories. I was pretty conscious of it,” she told Today at the time. Though she’s now a vegetarian, the Good Place alum still respects veganism. “I think being vegan is a wonderful way to live and it has great effects on the body," she continued. "I also think it has really good effects on the environment.”

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Natalie Portman

While the Black Swan star has been vegan for most of her adult life, she switched things up in 2011, when she was pregnant with her first child. “I actually went back to being vegetarian when I became pregnant, just because I felt like I wanted that stuff," the Oscar winner told radio Q100 in April of that year. "I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy.” As the Thor star told Us exclusively in June 2018, she’s now back on the plant-based diet and her children, Aleph and Amalia, are vegan as well.