Russell Crowe Reveals Nearly 60-Pound Weight Loss Transformation

Russell Crowe is opening up about dropping nearly 60 pounds after wrapping production on his latest movie, Nuremberg.

The 61-year-old Oscar winner appeared on Thursday’s episode of the Joe Rogan Experience to discuss his new film about the Nuremberg Trials, revealing that in the year since he wrapped his role as Nazi politician Hermann Göring, he’s gone from 126 kilograms (277 pounds) to 100.9 kilograms (222 pounds).

Crowe said it was cutting back on drinking alcohol that made the biggest difference in losing weight. “I’m a big proponent for having a drink,” he explained. “It’s my cultural heritage and as a working-class man, it’s my goddamn right.”

As he’s gotten older, however, the actor noted there were “certain things” he had started to learn about his “capacities,” prompting him to rethink how he drinks.

“Now that I’m an older guy, I know that one night a week—if I’m having fun—is plenty,” the Gladiator star went on. “I try to cut out the interstitial stuff.”

“If I decide to have a glass of wine with dinner, it’s going to be a really nice wine,” he explained. “I try not to have casual drinks, now, having a drink for the sake of it. Those add up.”

Russell also credited “a lot” of his weight loss to injections he’s been receiving for “deeply arthritic” injuries in his shoulders and knees that he says have “calmed down my body’s inflammation.”

“I think we talked before about just how many old injuries I carry, and how the injuries in my shoulders are deeply arthritic,” he said. “But we can now see in an ultrasound that a year ago I had big thick bands of arthritis, and now it’s lessened, probably by about 70%. On one area in my right shoulder, probably by about 90%.”

“But now it’s f—king rock and roll, son,” he added. “It’s all going good.”

The Les Misérables actor did point out that he hopes to make these changes a “long-term situation,” which is why he’s taking his health journey slowly.

At his age, however, Russell acknowledged that injuries are part of the game. “I’m still picking up injuries because I’ve got to face the fact I’m 61,” he shrugged.