50 Cent addressed extreme weight loss for film that people thought was a hoax

Charlie Herbert

He lost almost 25kg

50 Cent once underwent an extreme body transformation for a film that some people thought was a hoax.

Whilst most people will be aware of the rapper for his hit songs such as In da Club and 21 Questions, he’s also had a pretty long career in film as well.

The 49-year-old, real name Curtis Jackson, has starred in films such as Power, 13, and Expend4bles. But there was one film that he put a huge amount of effort into.

In 2011, he had a starring role in All Things Fall Apart alongside Ray Liotta, Mario Van Peebles and Lynn Whitfield.

In the film, he played an American football player called Deon who was on his way to making it pro. However, when Deon falls ill from a genetic disease, his dreams are crushed and his life is turning upside down.

For the role, 50 Cent committed to a drastic weight loss regime, which saw him drop from 214 (97kg) pounds to 160 (72.5kg) in nine weeks. He managed this thanks to a liquid-only diet and running on a treadmill for three hours a day.

It was a remarkable body transformation for Jackson, who looked unrecognisable from his usual appearance.

His physical change was so shocking that some even thought the film was a hoax, the Daily Mail reported.

The strict liquid-only diet wasn’t actually a new experience for 50 Cent though, with the rapper having had to follow a similar diet when he was shot in the jaw in 2000.

During this time, his weight dropped to 157 pounds, but he said the weight loss for All Things Fall Apart was trickier.

Speaking to the Associated Press in 2010, he said: “This time it was a lot tougher for me.

“I had to discipline myself not … to actually have myself be in the physical state to convey the energy I felt. It’s a passion project for me.”

To prepare for his body transformation, he researched how other actors had coped with similar processes for films.

Actors such as Robert de Niro, Christian Bale and Tom Hanks have all famously changed their weight for roles, and 50 Cent learned from their experiences.

“I actually got on the computer,” he said. “When it started getting difficult, I was looking to see what their experience was like and I got a chance to see all of the interviews they had at different time periods when they were doing promotion for the projects.”