'Hunger Games' Star Opens Up About Body Image Struggles

The Hunger Games star Sam Claflin recently appeared on the "Happy Place" podcast to discuss how struggling with body dysmorphia made it difficult to settle into his Hollywood career.

The actor is best known for playing the role of Finnick Odair in the Hunger Games franchise, but his Hollywood debut came several years earlier in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Sam Claflin Shares His Experience With Body Dysmorphia

I had a topless scene in one of my first movies, but it wasn’t in the script and I got told a week before they were going to [take] my top off,” Claflin said. “I was like, ‘Shit, I haven’t been working out, what am I going to do?’ This is my first introduction to the world.”

The actor expressed that Hollywood puts a lot of pressure on men to be in the best physical shape possible because "it’s the men with the six packs who sell the movie." While he wasn't the lead star of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, he was playing a character who needed to be in top shape for the story to make sense.

"As a result, I developed a form of body dysmorphia. 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," Claflin admitted.

The actor also expressed that his struggles with self-image have expanded into a more general insecurity about his work and career. "I just went to a screening of a film I was in and everyone immediately afterwards [asked], ‘How was it?’ And [I was like,] ‘I hated it.’ It’s my face I don’t like [it]’."

Claflin Suggests "Most Guys Are" Affected By Body Image

I know i speak on behalf of most men actually in my generation that we're taught to be a man... you don't cry, you don't speak about your emotions."

Although Claflin confesses that his body dysmorphia worsened due to Hollywood's obsession with image and physicality, he acknowledges that these mental struggles are a very normal thing that men go through. "I’ve been massively affected [by body dysmorphia]. I’d say most guys are, but I would say mine got quite bad… It’s a real struggle. It’s like an everyday struggle."

"I know I speak on behalf of most men, actually, in my generation we're taught to be a man. You don't cry, you don't speak about your emotions." Claflin has long been an advocate for men's mental health support, and is using this opportunity to raise awareness of the topic once more.

Watch Sam Claflin's full podcast interview below.

If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text "HOME" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or visit their website.

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, help is available. Contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or go to NationalEatingDisorders.org.