John Goodman says weight-loss jabs would have been 'a godsend' and instead he had to 'force' himself into the gym to lose 14 stone

John Goodman has revealed he had to 'force himself' into the gym in a bid to lose weight after his relationship with food became 'dangerous.'

The actor, 74, has lost over 14 stone after undergoing stomach surgery, and giving up drinking following a three-decade battle with the booze.

In a new interview John shared that it would have been a 'godsend' to have weight loss jabs when he was trying to slim down, as it would have helped him 'cut down' on his 'addiction' to food.

He said: ' I was eating alcoholically. It was just something to up the ante. It was dangerous. My joints were shot from the weight I was carrying.'

Noting he's since had two knee replacements, the actor said he spends much of his time in the gym, adding: 'I mean, I have to force myself in there. If it was just me, I'd skip it.'

After John gave up drinking and entered rehab in 2007, he embarked on a weight-loss process that had seen him shed more than 14st by 2023.

The milestone put an end to decades of alcoholism, during which he would even drink on set.

In his interview with The Sunday Times Culture Magazine, John added that he would welcome weight loss jabs, but confirmed he is not currently using them.

He said: 'No, because it's got to be co-ordinated with other things. But it would have been a godsend.

'They cut down on the addiction part and I understand it works for drinking as well.'

He became world-famous for his endearing and layered performance in US sitcom Roseanne, as family patriarch Dan Conner, the husband of the show’s title character, played by Roseanne Barr.

His portly figure was the subject of frequent jokes and occasional plot points and he subsequently revealed that at his largest he weighed 28.5st.

'It was 30 years of a disease that was taking its toll on everyone around me and it had got to the point where, every time I did it, it was becoming more and more debilitating. It was life or death,' Goodman revealed five years later. 'It was time to stop.'

By 2010, he had lost 100lb, having cut out sugar from his diet. He also started working out six days a week with Serena Williams' trainer, Mackie Shilstone, according to People Magazine.

Being heavier, Goodman said, had been 'a waste'. He added jokingly, 'It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your a** and figure out what you're going to eat next.'

His trainer, Mackie, observed that the actor 'remembers what it feels like to be extremely heavy and it's something he doesn't want again'. 

He placed Goodman on a 'Mediterranean-style eating plan' and, where exercise was concerned, had him take a daily 10,000 to 12,000 steps with the assistance of a treadmill and an elliptical trainer.

Goodman attributed his trimmer frame to 'portion control', a radical departure from his past habit of 'just shoving everything into my mouth', he told AARP magazine.

'But I don't want to be an example to anybody when the weight comes thundering back on – when I start eating Crisco out of the can with a spoon and a side of confectioner's sugar,' he added.

He was, however, able to avoid that eventuality so successfully that by 2023, Goodman announced he had rid himself of a staggering 14st.

At that stage, his workouts consisted largely of low-intensity activities such as walking his dogs, since the Covid-19 pandemic had caused his previous boxing regimen to lapse 'because I'm lazy,' he quipped to Rolling Stone.

'I haven't been exercising, but I'm going to start a routine again this summer where I can get some stuff done. I've just let everything go just because I haven't had the energy because of the jobs,' he explained.

Goodman now has a string of projects in various states of completion, including episodes of the podcast drama Hindsight: The Day Before, on which he plays Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Supreme Court Justice behind the famous line that 'free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic'.

His upcoming projects include the film The Hollywood Hitman, in which he plays himself, and the horror movie Skeletons, starring Brie Larson and Willa Fitzgerald.