Taylor Lautner Gets Vulnerable About Being Body Shamed For Outgrowing Twilight Physique

Taylor Lautner has plenty of films to his name, but it's safe to say that the most famous role he's ever played was Jacob Black in the "Twilight" series. Whether or not you were Team Edward or Team Jacob, there's no doubt that both Lautner and Robert Pattinson (who played Edward) earned a huge fan base thanks to their roles in the film.

Fans saw Lautner in front of the camera without a shirt on in plenty of scenes as he showcased his chiseled physique, especially for the second installment of the franchise, "New Moon." Lautner spoke with Interview Magazine about what it took to transform into such a ripped werewolf for the second movie. "As soon as I finished filming "Twilight," I knew I had to get to work right away; there could be no waiting involved," he told the outlet of his transformation for the films. "The day I finished "Twilight," I came home and started bulking up. For "New Moon," I'm 30 pounds heavier than I was in 'Twilight.'" The star also told Yahoo! that he had to follow a strict diet and workout regimen in order to achieve his toned figure, which he didn't love. "That was an absolute nightmare in the diet compartment — raw sweet potatoes and turkey patties, and protein shakes that were essentially just mud," he said, adding that he had to eat around 5,000 calories daily.

Now, he's sharing the damage his "Twilight" body did to his mental health.

Taylor Lautner is getting candid about some body image issues that he faced after filming "Twilight." The star sat down for an interview with "Access Hollywood" in February, where he talked about his post-"Twilight" appearance and how it's made him feel super self-conscious. "It was tough, when you start putting on a little weight and don't look like you did in this huge franchise when you were 17 and cut," Lautner confessed. "It was embarrassing seeing all the photos and having people trash you." The star didn't stop there, stating that he even felt a sense of guilt for his appearance. "But it also made me feel kind of guilty, having so many people tell me how inspiring I was to them and looking at myself in the mirror and not looking like that anymore," he shared. 

The interview with "Access Hollywood" is not the only time that Lautner has talked about the struggles he's faced with the emotional toll that his body and mental state after "Twilight" had on him. The actor also told People that "being viewed as having this unbelievable body" was really tough on him (even though most people think body image is only an issue that only women face), he definitely felt it. At first, Lautner said that he had no idea taking his shirt off for a role would affect his body image, "but now looking back at it, of course it did, and of course it is going to."