Actor Jonah Hill’s dramatic weight loss has been years in the making, but it’s his most recent transformation that’s sparking fresh concern among fans.
Resurfaced photos of Hill, 41, have spread across social media over the past several days on X.
The viral images were taken from footage of “The Wolf of Wall Street” star in August 2023, though most tabloids reported on his slimmer body and haircut while out in Malibu.
“Jonah Hill looks like a completely different person after his crazy weight loss journey,” read a May 19 tweet that accompanied the old side-by-side pictures of the two-time Academy Award nominee.
The photos made their way to Instagram as well. People on both social media platforms weighed in on Hill’s drastic change in appearance.
“He just does not look well,” one X user expressed. A second observer chimed in, “Sometimes I feel the weight suits people.” A third grumbled, “You’re not our real Jonah, we want our old Jonah back.”
In contrast, Hill got backup when someone on the app tweeted, “He looks happy, good for him.” Another supporter wrote, “Happiest I’ve ever seen him.”
Similar conflicting takes played out on Instagram. For instance, one person commented, “Dude went from unhealthy to sickly.” Another said, “Some people should stay on the chubbier side.”
“Good for him, but sometimes when I see these type of things, it seems like they lost too much weight,” read a more balanced comment. Yet another person proclaimed, “He chose life instead of a heart attack.”
After rising to fame from movies like “Knocked Up” and “Superbad” in the 2000s, Hill’s rotund body frame was often mentioned in interviews and became the butt of several comedians’ jokes.
Hill reflected on the trials and tribulations of being an overweight teenager before his Hollywood accomplishments in a 2018 interview on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
“For me, it’s definitely being like this 14-year-old kid, being overweight, wanting to fit in with these skaters and hip-hop kids, and just feeling lonely and maybe not understanding my own worth,” Hill told DeGeneres.
The father of a 1-year-old daughter added, “I spent most of my young adult life listening to people say I was fat, gross, and unattractive.”
Hill reportedly began his weight loss journey in 2011 after filming the drama “Moneyball” alongside Brad Pitt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Robin Wright.
“It was just mostly diet,” he revealed to ABC News the following year. “I wish there was some crazy thing that I did, like a pill or a genie or something, but it was, unfortunately, I went to see a nutritionist, and he told me what to eat to change my habits and stuff.”
Four years later, Hill explained how his “21 Jump Street” co-star Channing Tatum played a role in him losing pounds. A 2016 interview for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” included a conversation about Hill’s fitness changes.
“I’m still a piece of s–t,” he joked after Fallon mentioned that he was looking fit. “I gained weight for this movie ‘War Dogs’ and then I wanted to get in better shape, so I called Channing Tatum.”
Hill continued, “I was like, ‘Hey, if I eat less and go to a trainer, will I get in good shape?’ [Tatum] was like, ‘Yeah, you dumb motherf—-r. Of course you will.” Hill went on to say that Tatum set him up with a nutrition specialist.
He was further taunted after blogs and conversation boards wrote about his “You People” co-star Lauren London. One thread on Reddit was titled, “Jonah Hill lost weight after an actress wouldn’t kiss him even for a movie. Do you think he looks better than her now?”
Actor Jonah Hill’s weight transformation makes him look almost unrecognizable 👀 pic.twitter.com/Gj7VVF6Egz
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) May 21, 2023
In the Netflix film, London and Hill play “Ezra and Amira as they hilariously navigate the treacherous waters that link family and romance.” After meeting during a chance encounter in an Uber, the two begin to date and end up blending their interracial families through marriage. However, fans were shocked to learn the final kiss scene was actually created using computer-generated imagery (CGI), as a likely side effect of COVID-19.
But his true fans believed the kiss mishap had nothing to do with his smaller shape. “His weight is always fluctuating from role to role, I don’t think it was about this movie,” said one Reddit observer eight months ago.
Another said, “Isn’t he always gaining and losing weight? And yes, he looks better slimmer,”
Jonah explored the impact his body insecurities had on his mental health in the 2022 Netflix documentary titled “Stutz” about his world renowned psychotherapist, Phil Stutz.
“I had no healthy self-esteem,” Hill stated in the doc, per Entertainment Weekly. “Having grown up overweight was something — that sounds like not a big deal, or like, ‘poor you’ or whatever — but for me, personally, it intensely f—ked me up.”
On success not curing his self-doubt, he added, “It made me beyond depressed. At the same time, the media kept being really brutal about my weight. It was just kind of free game for anyone to sort of hit my sore spot. I’d be so angry. It kept me from feeling any sense of being able to grow past negative feelings about myself.”
Now, Hill appears to be more confident as she was spotted last month, wearing a pink sweater on top of a white button-down and olive-colored slacks.
Despite his struggles with weight, he’s been able to maintain a 20-year acting career. His next feature film is Apple TV+’s forthcoming “Outcome,” which he will serve as the director, producer, and co-writer for the movie.
