Did f ilm stardom give Tom Hanks diabetes?
TOM Hanks has revealed he is suffering from diabetes – which could have been triggered by gaining and losing weight for movie roles over his 30- year career, according to reports.
The Oscar-winner said that he had been wrestling with symptoms for two decades but has now ‘graduated’ to full-blown Type 2 diabetes.
Hanks, 57, has gained and lost weight dramatically for some of his most memorable roles.
For his role in 1993 film Philadelphia, in which he played a highpowered lawyer who dies of Aids, Hanks had to lose nearly two stone for later scenes in which he had to portray the condition ravaging his
‘Equilibrium is completely off’
character’s body. The part won him a Best Actor Oscar.
The year before Hanks’s role in baseball drama A League Of Their Own, co- starring Geena Davis, required him to put on two stone to play coach Jimmy Dugan.
And in 2000 film Castaway his character Chuck Noland spends years stranded on a desert island, which meant he had to lose four stone – weighing just 12 stone by the end of filming.
Appearing on a US chat show, Hanks said: ‘I went to the doctor and she said, “You know those high blood sugar numbers you’ve been dealing with since you were 36, well you’ve graduated. You’ve got Type 2 diabetes, young man”.
‘My doctor said, “Look, if you can weigh as much as you weighed in high school, you will essentially be completely healthy and not have Type 2 diabetes”.
‘And I said to her, “Well, I’m gonna have Type 2 diabetes because there is no way I can weigh as much as I did in high school”. I weighed 96lbs [ seven stone] in high school!’ The condition occurs when the body does not produce or make use of enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels in check. Over-40s and the overweight or obese are at greater risk of developing the condition.
But according to US media, the physical demands of gaining and losing weight for movies could have made him more predisposed to the illness.
Speaking to US TV network CBS, specialist Dr Holly Phillips said Hanks will need to ‘watch what he eats and exercise regularly’ in order to lead a normal life.
She added: ‘In dramatic weight gain or dramatic weight loss the equilibrium of the body is completely off so that might create predisposal to diabetes later.’
In a biography of the actor, Hanks is quoted making reference to the fact his weight has gone up and down over his career.
He said: ‘I’m that actor in some of the movies you liked and some you didn’t. Sometimes I’m in pretty good shape, other times I’m not.’
Hanks is not the only celebrity who has gone public about being diag- nosed with Type 2 diabetes. Actress Halle Berry learned she had the condition at the age of 19 and considers it a ‘blessing’ because it has made her look after her body.
Singer Chaka Khan, who also has the condition, lost four stone by becoming a vegan to bring it under control. According to Diabetes UK, there are three million people diagnosed with the condition in Britain and an estimated 850,000 people who have it but don’t know.
Hanks is being hotly tipped to receive a third Oscar for his latest movie, Captain Phillips, in which he plays the eponymous hero whose ship is taken over by Somalian pirates.