Actor Ethan Suplee has opened up about the 'mental illness' he still suffers after his dramatic weight loss.
Suplee, 44, appeared on podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, where he talked about his relationship with his body and the changes he's been able to make over the past 19 years.
He explained he first realised he needed to do something about his weight in 2002, when he tipped the scales at 550lbs.
After going on a liquid diet for two months, the My Name Is Earl star managed to get the figure down to 450lbs before eventually reducing that further to 200lbs.
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While things fluctuated a lot over the years, Suplee said he's finally 'gotten that under control' by maintaining a 270lb weight - although he admitted he still struggles with a 'negative' perception of his body.
Showing Suplee a photo of himself at his 'heaviest', Rogan said it must be 'satisfying' to have lost so much weight, and to be able to look back at photos to see the transformation.
"It's incredibly satisfying," Suplee agreed.
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"But look, the reality is that I have mental illness and I don't look at myself and think, 'God I look great'. I see nothing but negative stuff every day and I try to convince myself, I try to find something that I'm happy with.
"Usually it's my traps. I can look at my traps because [they're] lean - there's not a bunch of loose skin hanging there. They're not all scarred up from surgeries. I look at my traps and go, 'Okay that looks good'.
"And based on that I can start to feel okay about myself."
Rogan asked if by 'mental illness' Suplee meant he was aware he had a 'distorted perception' of himself.
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"Yeah, very much so," Suplee replied.
He continued: "When I go back to my childhood, I was put on a diet when I was five, and prior to that I had no sense of self. I existed and clearly I had fun and I played, but I was not aware of my body as a thing, kind of, if it is external to me, as a separate component to me - or just as a thing itself. It just was.
"And at five, I was put on this diet and all these parts of me were pointed out as being super negative."
Suplee explained he 'wasn't obese' at that age, but was 'chubby', adding that he was also 'super active' and didn't eat 'junk food all day long'.
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Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity