John Goodman admitted that “eating alcoholically” led him to weigh nearly 400 pounds when he quit drinking.
The actor told The New Yorker in an interview published Sunday that he began his weight-loss journey before getting sober in 2007 at age 55.
“I’d lose 60 pounds in a summer, gain it all back — 70 pounds, 80 pounds — and that got tiring,” Goodman, now 74, said. “I took steps so I wouldn’t have to do that anymore. I was almost 400 pounds. I was eating alcoholically after I stopped drinking.”
He told the outlet he decided to get sober because he was “really immature” and drinking only “sustained that immaturity,” adding, “I wanted to live in ‘Animal House’ the whole time.”
“I got sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Goodman added. “The thing about instant gratification is you don’t really care [about] what’s going to happen right after it — which always led to bigger hangovers or me getting the shakes, and having to drink to get rid of the shakes, and that vicious cycle.
“I was in a position when I quit where I had to be hospitalized one way or the other. I just was tired of it, and I wanted to stop,” he continued. “I was delaying my maturation by drinking, and I had a lot of catching up to do, just realizing how selfish it made me.”
The “Roseanne” alum said he had been “overlooking real life,” adding that it was “great to see there was a life where [he] didn’t have to use anything to enjoy it.”
Goodman underwent stomach surgery to address his weight gain after giving up alcohol, but the procedure led to other health struggles.
“I also turned anemic and lost a layer of fat under my skin, and I’m cold all the time,” he said.
The “Big Lebowski” actor has since lost 200 pounds and recently showed off his slimmer figure at the Los Angeles premiere of “Digger.”
He posed solo on the red carpet and alongside his wife, Anna Beth, wearing a black suit, a striped button-down shirt and a gray tie.
Goodman had fans doing a double take in August, with social media users calling him “unrecognizable” in the comments of a selfie shared on Instagram by “Wizards of Waverly Place” star David DeLuise.
In 2025, he turned heads with his dramatic weight loss on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of “Smurfs,” smiling for photographers in a navy blue suit, white collared shirt, patterned black tie and brown loafers.
The “Monsters, Inc.” star previously detailed his weight-loss journey, revealing that he hired a personal trainer, cut sugar from his diet and began exercising six days a week.
“I know it sounds sappy, but it was a waste,” Goodman told People in 2010 of his time as a couch potato. “It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your ass and figure out what you’re going to eat next … I wanted to live life better.”
