Jonah Hill Claps Back After Dealing With Online Body Shaming

Jonah Hill with a bow tie on.

Comedy favorite and two time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill is comfortable with himself and how he looks. It was a process to get to that point, but he’s definitely there now. He knows that because a photographer recently followed him while he was surfing and took pictures of him without a shirt on. The resulting photos ran around online, and Hill realized, much to his satisfaction, that he doesn’t care anymore. So, he celebrated his lack of caring by posting the photos himself, along with a thoughtful note of encouragement to others.

Jonah Hill dropped the inspiring social media post yesterday. It includes a screenshot of the pictures and the top of the accompanying article, as well as a reflection about his own history with taking his shift off. He apparently kept his shirt on while swimming or at the pool as a kid and even as an adult into his mid-30s. That’s when he finally got to the point where he was comfortable taking his shift off and not worrying about it. You can check out the post below which also encourages kids to take their shirts off and have fun…

A photo posted by on

There aren’t many things tabloids and gossip columns love more than stories about people gaining or losing weight. Anytime someone famous changes sizes, it’s always followed by a stream of articles first pointing out what happened and second speculating about all kinds of ridiculous and unfair possible causes. If the person gains weight, maybe they have an alcohol problem or need to go therapy. If the person loses weight, maybe they have an eating disorder or are on drugs. It’s endless and I’m sure it’s exhausting and demoralizing for the people involved.

Jonah Hill himself has been at the center of many of those stories, but the truly inspiring thing is he’s proven you can work in Hollywood and be really good at your job in a variety of different sizes. He’s made successful movies while at the upper end of his weight range, and he’s made successful movies while at the bottom end of his weight range. Through it all, he has continued to work because he’s both one of the funniest comedians working today and a really good supporting actor in dramatic roles, as he proven in Moneyball and The Wolf Of Wall Street among others.

I’ve struggled with my own weight most of my life. Everyone has their own issues, and for some of us, those issues are related to weight. But like Jonah Hill, I’ve also discovered that the best thing to do is take your shirt off and jump in the pool. Life is too short to sit on the sidelines wondering about what others think.

Jonah Hill is currently working on his next directing project. We don’t know a ton of details, but he’s referenced it a few times and seems really excited. I'm excited too given how solid mid-90s was. Outside of that, he’ll next be seen in critically acclaimed director Adam McKay’s next Don’t Look Up. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as low level astronomers trying to warn mankind that a comet is coming to destroy the Earth. Hill will reportedly play a key supporting role alongside a WTF cast of supporting players that includes Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Chris Evans, Mark Rylance, Timothee Chalamet and Melanie Lynskey, among many others. Expect Hill to be great in it, whether he has his shirt on or not.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.