Tom Hanks rules out weight gain roles following diabetes diagnosis

Tom Hanks has admitted he will no longer accept film roles that require him to gain a drastic amount of weight in an effort to keep his type 2 diabetes under control.
Following on from his revelation on US television that he has type 2 diabetes, the double Oscar winner said that dramatically changing weight for films such as Philadelphia and Castaway “may have had something do” with the development of the disease.
“You eat so much bad food and you don’t get any exercise when you’re heavy,” Hanks said while speaking to the BBC before the European premiere of his new film Captain Phillips at the London Film Festival.
“I’ve talked to a number of actors who have gained weight for roles, and just the sheer physical toll it puts on one’s knees and shoulders – no one wants to do it again.
“I think that’s more or less a young man’s game. I’m 57 and I don’t think I’m going to take on any job or go on vacation again and see to it that I can gain 30 pounds.”
Hanks, who lost 25kg for the film Castaway and gained 13kg for A League of Their Ow, revealed he had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman earlier this week. He also told the US TV host he had been showing the symptoms of the disease, such as high blood sugar levels, for the past 20 years.
“I think I was genetically inclined to get it and I think it goes back to a lifestyle I’ve been leading since I was probably seve, as opposed to 36,” he told the BBC. “It just so happens that my body type and my lifestyle gives me a preclusion for high blood sugars.”
Hanks added his diabetes was “part of life” and stressed that he felt “just fine”.