Dave Bautista's Drastic Weight Loss Is Starting To Worry Everyone

When "Guardians of the Galaxy" star Dave Bautista showed up at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival looking far slimmer than he did while playing the beefy alien bruiser Drax the Destroyer, some fans became concerned. "What happened? Hope this was for a role and he's not sick or something," one person tweeted. Other fans tried to silence the chatter about the actor's appearance. As an example of why gossiping about a celebrity's weight is a bad idea, they pointed to the death of "Black Panther" star Chadwick Boseman. When internet trolls started cracking cruel jokes about Boseman's drastic weight loss online, they didn't know that he was secretly suffering from colon cancer.

Numerous celebrities have admitted to using the weight loss drug Ozempic, so there were some users on X, formerly known as Twitter, who assumed that Bautista had joined that club. However, on the "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" podcast, the actor revealed that this was not the case. He also assured fans that he's perfectly healthy. "They think I'm anorexic, but I'm still — I'm just a large human being. So, at 6'4", 240 pounds, next to your typical actor, I look like a gorilla," he said. "The Last Showgirl" star credited exercise and cutting his daily caloric intake down to 2,500 for his body transformation. On "Live with Kelly and Mark" (via People), Bautista revealed that his favorite method for burning those calories was jiu-jitsu. "I've sacrificed a lot of muscle. But I'm okay with it, because I just feel more comfortable," he shared. He also told Chris Van Vliet he hadn't been that size since he was a teen.

On "Live with Kelly Mark," Dave Bautista revealed that he discovered his natural talent for the less theatrical style of wrestling when he was in high school. Back then, he competed in the 185-pound weight class.

Bautista had a pretty tragic childhood. The gym became a place where he could escape the harsh realities of his tough life — and avoid spending time around people who weren't the best influence on him. "I love wrestling, but I really love training," he told Men's Health. Bautista found that he liked the results he was getting from spending a lot of time in the gym. "I was a really shy, skinny, gangly, unhealthy kid. Working out helped me build confidence," he told Muscle & Fitness.

Packing on the muscle also gave Bautista a physique that made it possible for him to dabble in professional bodybuilding after dropping out of high school. However, he told Mercury News, "The egos in that sport were out of control." Bautista still became enmeshed in the culture; for a time, he supported himself by working at a Virginia gym frequented by bodybuilders. "I practically lived there. It was a second home," he told Muscle & Fitness. He later used his intimidating size to get work as a bouncer while living in Washington, D.C. On "Jimmy Kimmel Live," he revealed that he also worked security for several celebrities, including Jamie Foxx, Mark Wahlberg, and Billy Idol.

Dave Bautista realized that there wasn't a lot of upward mobility in the bouncing game and started brainstorming about a new career avenue to pursue. He settled on wrestling because he figured it was one profession where his hulking figure would give him a distinct advantage over other hopefuls. However, his WCW audition in Minneapolis was a bust.

Bautista told Muscle & Fitness he was 325 pounds at the time, and he believes that the much smaller guy in charge of the audition might have been somewhat envious of his impressive stature. "End of the day, he tells me to leave and that I'd never be a professional wrestler," Bautista recalled to GQ. But he didn't give up and soon discovered another way into the wrestling world: learning all the fundamentals at the Wild Samoan Training Center. This led to a job offer from the WWE, and when he was 33 years old, he was introduced to wrestling viewers as Reverend D-Von's enforcer Deacon Batista. "When I started Deacon, I was about 325 pounds, and throughout most of my wrestling career, I was about 290 pounds," he revealed on the "Insight" podcast.

He later dropped the "Deacon" from his stage name, earned the nickname "The Animal," and mastered a signature move called the Batista Bomb. In 2005, Bautista won his first World Heavyweight Championship. He had earned respect in the ring but would eventually decide that he was ready to take on some new challenges.

Dave Bautista decided to give acting a shot in 2010, but Hollywood didn't treat him like the next Dwayne Johnson or John Cena — one of his early roles was in the direct-to-video flick "The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption." It was released in 2012, the same year Bautista fought in his first and only MMA fight.

While he waited for Hollywood to realize his potential, Bautista began training with renowned MMA coach Cesar Gracie. The "Avengers: Infinity War" star had learned the muay Thai and Kali martial art forms, and Gracie helped him master the jiu-jitsu discipline. "We did eight weeks of two-a-day training, five days on, two days off," he told Sherdog.

Bautista also quit lifting weights altogether, and his new training regimen was tough to adjust to. "I always thought that wrestling was always the hardest thing I have ever done until I did this," he told Fight Hype. "It's like wrestling takes a toll on you throughout the years, but this is like all of that torture and punishment piled into a 6 to 8 week training span." He told Men's Health that he also altered his eating habits by going gluten-free and cutting red meat from his diet. "I was struggling to lose weight and get under 280lbs. When I switched to this diet I not only dropped the weight easier but I felt so much better," he said.

Bautista weighed in at 265.5 pounds for his matchup against seasoned MMA veteran Vince Lucero, whose weight was listed at 300 pounds. Bautista won the bout by technical knockout in the first round.

Hollywood finally recognized Dave Bautista's potential in 2013 when he was invited to join the MCU in "Guardians of the Galaxy." Roles in the Bond flick "Spectre" and the cyberpunk thriller "Blade Runner 2049" followed. "'Guardians' made my career, and it changed my life," Bautista told Muscle & Fitness. While his swole pro wrestler build probably helped convince casting directors that he had what it took to be an action star, Bautista quit working out like he did when he was portraying a heel in the ring. "For film roles, and life in general, I've switched to a more cardio-based workout routine," he told Men's Health.

When it was time for Drax and the other Guardians to join the Avengers in 2019, Bautista decided to make another change. He enlisted the help of a personal trainer to help him mold his body into the shape of a real-life action figure. "For the first time in my film career I was actually really concerned about looking better. I wanted to not only look big, but also look toned," he told Men's Journal. Basically, what he wanted was a broad, triangle-shaped torso and killer quads. He also adopted a high-protein diet, which for him meant eating a lot of poultry and eggs.

By 2021, Bautista was beginning to tire of playing a buff, bare-chested alien. "The shirtless thing is getting harder and harder for me," he quipped on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

Before Dave Bautista lost so much weight that fans became worried about him, he had to bulk up considerably for his role in the 2023 M. Night Shyamalan thriller "Knock at the Cabin." While preparing for the film in 2022, he shared an Instagram photo showing off his progress. On "Insight," he told Chris Van Vliet that he got his weight up to 315 pounds. He had to achieve this feat quickly, which meant filling up on empty carbs. "I packed it on with French fries and pancakes," he revealed. While having an excuse to chow down on delicious junk food every day might sound delightful, Bautista didn't enjoy the experience. "I just don't know if I could do it again. It took a toll," he said in an interview with ET.

Bautista told Van Vliet it was also extremely difficult to drop the weight he had put on, but he was up for the challenge. "Then I noticed the more I trimmed down, the better I felt, and I also noticed the more I trimmed down, the better I looked on camera," he said. 

With a new look came a new chapter in his career; Bautista was excited about scoring his first role in a rom-com, "The Killer's Game." He told Entertainment Weekly his next big goal is to direct a movie, which would mean no pressure to bulk up or slim down. He's achieved everything else he's set his mind to, so fans should look forward to seeing what he comes up with.