Claiming to be vegan has been the trend in Hollywood for the last few decades as celebrities encouraged their fans to eat plant-based diets and save the environment and also be healthier. There is more to veganism than just watching celebrity Instagram stories and listening to podcasts, though. Veganism is a lifestyle that has to be approached carefully because your health and finances are on the table. Media coverage for celebrities who declare themselves vegan is immense, but not many focus on celebrities who adjust when the reality of that diet proves tough. There is nothing wrong with being a vegan, vegetarian or none of these, it is your life and you have every right to live it. That is why these celebrities made their adjustments away from veganism public.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is one of the most famous Hollywood stars in the whole world and the public interest in her diet and lifestyle is enormous. She was a strict vegan before 2010, making headlines as one of the most beautiful vegan celebrities in Hollywood. However, in 2010, Jolie declared that leaving dairy products, meat and eggs out of her diet nearly killed her. She said that the sight of her ageing arms while washing her baby was a reminder of the negative impacts the diet was having on her health. She gave in to her cravings for red meat and even declared that steak was the secret to her beauty.
Anne Hathaway
Hathaway was also labelled a betrayer by militaristic vegans when she declared that she had also quit the diet a few years after Angelina Jolie. She ventured into veganism in 2011 while trying to lose weight for her role as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. However, in 2014, while shooting Interstellar in Reykjavik, she tried a piece of fish at a local restaurant and just felt satisfied. She later said that she didn’t feel strong and healthy while on her vegan diet. She said she just felt healthy in a better way after going back to her traditional diet.
Waka Flocka
Becoming a vegan because of media and peer pressure can bring temporary satisfaction, but having to deal with the policing eyes of radical vegans can be daunting too. That is why the rapper said that radical vegans are the worst enemies of veganism. He said in 2018 that he had joined the veganism bandwagon for the wrong reasons after assuming that everything that was labelled as a vegan was automatically healthy. He also said that vegans are like cops, always watching your every move and ready to bash you if you dare slip up. He said in an interview that he now considers himself a conscious eater, not a vegan anymore.
Wendy Williams
The Talk Show Host credited a vegan diet for losing 50 pounds back in 2015 becoming one of the greatest advocates of the diet. Her consciousness to fitness and dieting has been a major part of her lifestyle for years since then but then in October 2020, right in the heart of the Covid19 Pandemic, Wendy Williams posted on her Instagram that she wasn’t vegan anymore. “Many still think I am vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. I am no longer any of them,” her post read. She said she now eats whatever she wants and that her doctor was fine with it. She also said she had lost a lot of weight during the pandemic.
Beyonce
Beyonce nearing her 40s doesn’t seem to reflect on her appearance at all. Many people associated her vibrant looks with her supposed vegan diet but as it turned out, that is not really the case. She alongside her husband Jay Z announced an offer of lifetime tickets to their fans who would switch to a vegan diet in February 2019.
The offer came shortly after Beyonce launched her own vegan meal delivery service. However, upon further scrutiny by the media, Beyonce’s personal trainer Marcos Borges confirmed to The New York Times that Beyonce only abstains from eating meat on Mondays and that she eats a plant-based breakfast. Beyonce had announced her love for the vegan diet and even said she was participating in a challenge to go vegan but she confirmed in 2015.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus observed a strict vegan diet from 2013 to 2019, and during that period, she was being featured on almost every pro-vegan post online. However, in 2020, she said in an interview that she had to ditch the diet for health reasons. She said that her ex-husband, Liam Hemsworth, cooked her a non-vegan meal in 2019. She wasn’t proud about having to eat the grilled fish and that she even cried about it but she said it was necessary. She blamed her vegan diet for making her dull, saying someone cannot be vegan and be as sharp as she was. She also introduced other omegas in her diet to keep a sharp mind which she said veganism didn’t allow.
Samuel L. Jackson
As usual, Samuel L. Jackson adds a sense of humour to whatever he does, and in this case, veganism was the subject. He said he became a vegan in 2013, after he read about the ability of the diet to elongate one’s life because he allegedly wanted to live forever. However, the Legend of Tarzan star lost weight and nearly got fired from the role of George Williams Washington in the hit film. He was forced to quit the diet just seven months after declaring himself a vegan and even appearing in a documentary about the diet. He said that going back to a protein-rich diet has made him healthier and that he is not joining the bandwagon anymore.
Liam Hemsworth
It is true Liam Hemsworth helped drag Miley Cyrus off the vegan diet but the star was serious about veganism at one point. His reasons for quitting the plant-based diet were health-related though. He confirmed in an interview with Menshealth Magazine in April 2020 that his plant-based diet which included lots of nuts had caused a buildup of acid and oxalates which caused him to have kidney stones just four years after going vegan. His doctors told him that the risk of getting kidney stones was very high if he didn’t incorporate animal products in his diet so he started consuming dairy products, fish and eggs.
Bill Clinton
2010 is the year that the 42nd president started eating a plant-based diet after heart surgery. His then doctor had advised him that the diet would help with his heart disease and that his general health would be better. The president did lose about 20 pounds in the four years he was on the diet and even looked sharper and young for someone his age. However, in 2014, he got the opinion of another doctor who told him that the diet was depriving him of essential proteins and lean animal fat and calcium. Dr Mark Hyman told the president that he risked getting another heart surgery if he continued with the diet which he accused of giving the president too much starch. The president took his advice and quit veganism. We don’t know which doctor was right though.
Steve O
This is another celebrity that quit the diet because of the annoyance by fellow vegans. He said on Instagram that his problems with vegans started when they bashed him for not giving his cats a vegan diet. He said that the combative vegans did more harm than good and that he just couldn’t stand identifying himself with the community anymore. He is still an animal rights activist and even made the announcement of his change in diet while planning to open an animal sanctuary. He ditched veganism for pescatarianism.