Jesse Plemons Opens up About His Weight Loss — And Why It's Here to Stay
The actor famously gained 45 lbs. for his role in the 2015 film 'Black Mass.'
Updated Oct. 21 2025, 1:26 p.m. ET
A noticeably slimmer Jesse Plemons has been gracing your television and movie screens lately, and the actor has opened up about how he dropped the weight and has kept it off.
The actor has spoken publicly about the habits that led to his weight loss and what inspired the change. Here's the scoop.
People talking about Jesse Plemons's weight loss and gain has surprised him over the years.
Fans who have followed Jesse's career closely know that he has at times been slimmer and carried more weight on his frame since stepping into the spotlight. The topic of his weight isn't something Jesse has shied away from discussing — even if he didn't expect his body to be a subject anyone would be interested in discussing.
According to his 2015 interview with GQ about his role in the 2015 movie Black Mass, Jesse said he gained 45 pounds to play Kevin Weeks, “Everyone’s like, ‘You gained all this weight!’ I was like, ‘No, I’ve been fat for a while now.’”
“Yeah, talking about it, if anything, makes me a little more empathetic — sympathetic? — to what women have to go through. My God! Men in general are just not held under the same microscope in that way. It’s bizarre that that’s all people wanted to talk about," Jesse continued.
Later in the same interview with GQ, Jesse joked that his secret to losing weight was simple, saying, "Well, I was eating everything, and then I just stopped eating terrible food."
Jesse Plemons wants to keep the "extra weight" off for good.
As fans take to social media to compliment Jesse on his weight loss, it's worth noting that the actor is looking to focus on his health moving forward. In a February 2025 interview with The Independent, he said he hopes never to have to gain a substantial amount of weight for a role like he did for Black Mass. Jesse told the outlet that the weight gain "did mess me up a bit" when he tried to lose the weight after the film wrapped.
“I never imagined getting to play a part like that," he explained. [Gaining weight] was a decision I made at that age, given that opportunity for that director — and I was playing a real person. I don’t regret it. But it was very easy to put the weight on, and much more difficult taking it off."
Jesse continued: "I don’t know if it’s something I would do again — because it did mess me up a bit."
In 2022, speaking to Interview, the star detailed his commitment to keeping "extra weight" off. "Something clicked in my head and I got tired of carrying all that extra weight around," Jesse confessed.
He added about the trimmer version of his body that fans are now seeing, "I got asked to do a scene in this movie and I was playing a soldier, and I was like, 'I don’t know many soldiers that are my size.' So like everyone else, I started doing intermittent fasting, cut carbs, all that stuff. It’s easy if you just actually do it."
Jesse added that since shedding the weight, his blood pressure has been down, and it's easier to keep up with his two kids. The star is married to Kirsten Dunst, and the couple shares Ennis Howard and James Robert.
In 2024, the actor told Entertainment Tonight that his life has changed since trying intermittent fasting. "Well, I'm not lugging 50 more pounds around," he said. The change has helped him keep up with his kids. "I have much more energy [now] and, like I've said, I've got young kids, so I got to keep up with them," he continued.