Charlize Theron opened up about the realities of gaining weight for a film role

‘I got hit in the face pretty hard with depression’

Changing your body shape has become part and parcel of succeeding in the film industry, with actors and actresses embarking on yoyo diets to lose or gain weight for specific roles.

Alison Brie had to undergo intensive athlete training to develop a wrestler’s physique for her role in Glow, and Alicia Vikander worked out every day for four months and gained 12lbs of muscle to play action hero, Lara Croft, in the recent remake.

But while it sounds more enjoyable, apparently the worst weight to have to gain as an actress is fat not muscle.

No one knows this more than 42-year-old Academy Award winning actress Charlize Theron, who had to gain 50lbs for her upcoming film, Tully, where she plays an overweight and overwhelmed mother.

How did she do it? A lot of late night macaroni cheese, burgers and milkshakes, according to the mother of two, who went on to explain that she would eat all day and night especially.

But don’t be fooled. According to Charlize, the novelty wears off very quickly.

‘The first three weeks are always fun because you’re just like a kid in a candy store. And then after three weeks, it’s not fun anymore. Like, all of a sudden you’re just done eating that amount and it becomes a job,’ the actress explained in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight. ‘I remember having to set my alarm in the middle of the night in order to just maintain [the weight]’

‘You know, it was a huge surprise to me,’ she continued, explaining the effect that the weight gain on her. ‘I got hit in the face pretty hard with depression. Yeah, for the first time in my life I was eating so much processed foods and I drank way too much sugar. I was not that fun to be around on this film.’

And when it came to losing the weight it only got harder, taking the actress a year and a half, described by Charlize as ‘hell’.

‘I was worried. I was like, this is taking a really long time,' she said. 'Because on Monster, I just didn't snack for five days and I was fine. You know your body at 27 is a little different than your body at 43, and my doctor made sure to make me very aware of that. Like, you are 42, calm down, you’re not dying, all good.'