Sam Claflin recalls pressure for perfect Hollywood physique

Sam Claflin has spoken out about the pressure that he felt to get into a perfect physique.

In a recent interview with The Telegraph newspaper, the Hollywood actor candidly discussed that he suffered from body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in his early acting career.

Recalling his initial career journey, the Me Before You actor began, "I was always really short until I was 18, so I never thought of myself in any way as a leading man …”

Referring to his first role as Philip Swift in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, he continued, "I assumed I’d become a character actor. When I was cast in Pirates [], I thought: 'What on earth am I doing here?' ...”

Sharing his struggle with BDD, which is a mental health condition where a person obsesses over their perceived defects or flaws in their appearance, he told the outlet, "There is this Hollywood assumption that it’s the men with the six packs who sell the movie. So there was a pressure that that was what I needed to look like.”

Before concluding, the 39-year-old actor shared, "As a result, I developed a form of body dysmorphic. It wasn’t quite an eating disorder, and I’m not blaming anyone but myself, but it was definitely because of the industry I’m in."

For those unversed, Sam Claflin gained wider recognition for his role Finnick Odair in the Hunger Game series, which was released in between 2013 to 2015.