Rupert Everett has said he “almost crippled himself” trying to attain the perfect body during his heartthrob days in the 1990s.
The 67-year-old My Best Friend’s Wedding actor, who currently stars in Disney+ series Rivals, would frequently lift weights in the gym to build muscle, but would bypass learning the correct methods in an attempt to look bigger more quickly, as he found it “boring”.
However, he’s now paying the price, telling The Guardian: “I ruined myself. Now I’m almost crippled as a result.”
“I could never be bothered to do all those things, like stretching, which were necessary for lifting weights, because your tendons get tighter and tighter,” he said.
“I didn’t do any of that. So now my demise will be musculoskeletal, I think.”
Everett, who first rose to fame in the 1980s, also said that he used to covertly wear “false” muscular bodysuits on camera as he felt uneasy about his physique as a child.
He claimed, however, that directors would remain oblivious to the ruse, explaining that he would “go into the fittings for the costumes with all my things on”.
Everett shot to fame in the play and film adaptation of Another Country, Julian Mitchell’s play about a gay pupil in a 1930s private school.
One of his most memorable roles was as Julia Roberts’ wingman in 1994 romantic comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding; parts in St Trinian’s and the Shrek franchise followed in the 2000s.
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In August 2025, Everett issued a statement to clarify that he was not “fired” from the hit Netflix series Emily in Paris.
The actor, who played Italian fashion designer Giorgio Barbieri in season four of the show, had apparently suggested he was dropped from the series during an event in Italy.
“I was in bed for two weeks because I couldn’t get over it,” Everett reportedly said. “I did a scene in the latest season, and they told me, ‘Next year we’ll speak.’ I waited for them to call me – but ultimately, it never came, and they just fired me.
“Show business is always very difficult, from the beginning to the end. When they write the screenplay, they think they want you – but then things change, and they lose your character. I don’t know why.”
However, in a statement to The Independent, Everett said: “In reference to the recent articles about me and the Netflix series Emily in Paris, I would like to confirm that I was never fired from the show.
“I was talking to a group of acting students — in my shaky Italian — at a festival in the south of Italy, and it all got a little lost in translation!”
