“My Best Friend’s Wedding” Star Reflects on How He “Ruined Himself”: “I Was Wonderful-Looking at One Point”

Rupert Everett, best known for roles in My Best Friend’s Wedding, St. Trinians, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shrek 2, has spoken candidly about the toll age has taken on his body and the regrets he carries about how he treated his health when he was younger. In a recent interview with The Guardian, the 67-year-old actor said he “ruined” himself by not taking proper care of his body, explaining that he now feels “almost crippled” and believes his decline will be “musculoskeletal.” He said he could never be bothered to do the stretching and other preparation needed to lift weights, adding that his tendons gradually became tighter over time.

Everett also described himself today as “chubby,” a sharp contrast to the image he had in earlier years. When told that he had once been too skinny, he pushed back, saying that at one point he had been in great shape and had “muscles” and “everything.” Still, he admitted there was a period when he was extremely thin and relied on costume padding to make his body appear fuller on screen. He said he wore bodysuits under his costumes so often that directors never noticed, even when he arrived at fittings with the extra pieces already on. According to Everett, two women in Tufnell Park in North London made him false body parts, including a false bottom, calves, shoulders and other padded sections, which he wore in films and in everyday life.

The actor also reflected on a previous turning point in his career. In an October 2024 appearance on the podcast How to Fail With Elizabeth Day, Everett said the 2000 film The Next Best Thing effectively ended what he called his “Hollywood revival.” After the success of My Best Friend’s Wedding, he said he had become very popular in Hollywood for a time, but problems during the making of The Next Best Thing changed that momentum and derailed his progress in the industry.

Looking back on his life and career, Everett suggested that he spent much of it feeling as though he was missing out on some other, more exciting life happening elsewhere. He said that one important lesson is that audiences have paid to see him and that, even in difficult moments, an actor has a responsibility to show up. His comments offered a frank portrait of aging, self-image and disappointment, while also showing a sense of humor and honesty about the physical and emotional costs of a long career in entertainment.