We all love potatoes, but Robert Pattinson’s spud based cleanse might be a step too far

Robert Pattinson is no stranger to getting in shape for movie roles, from Twilight to The Batman. But the actor has recently spoken out against the “insidious” body standards men face, both in and out of Hollywood – which even led him to only eating potatoes for two weeks.

“Even if you’re just watching your calorie intake, it’s extraordinarily addictive — and you don’t quite realise how insidious it is until it’s too late,” Pattinson told the Evening Standard. While he said he had never struggled with his own body image, he has “basically tried every fad you can think of, everything except consistency.”

Pattinson added, “I once ate nothing but potatoes for two weeks, as a detox. Just boiled potatoes and Himalayan pink salt. Apparently it’s a cleanse… you definitely lose weight.”

Noting that one of his goals for 2023 is to “try consistency,” Pattison detailed some of the other diets he’s tried, including keto. “I was like, ‘Oh, there’s a diet where you just eat charcuterie boards and cheese all the time?’ But I didn’t realise that you can’t have beer as it completely defeats the purpose,” he said.

Pattinson previously spoke about his workout regimen (or lack thereof) for The Batman, telling GQ ahead of the film’s release, “I think if you’re working out all the time, you’re part of the problem. You set a precedent. No one was doing this in the 70s. Even James Dean — he wasn’t exactly ripped. Literally, I’m just barely doing anything.”

The actor later admitted that those comments “came back to haunt me” in an interview with MovieMaker. “I just always think it’s really embarrassing to talk about how you’re working out,” Pattinson clarified at the time. “You’re playing Batman. You have to work out.”

In the ES magazine story, he recalled, “I got in so much trouble for saying that I don’t work out, even from my trainer, who was like, ‘Why would you say that?’”

Elsewhere in the story, Pattinson teased his upcoming film Mickey 17, directed by Bong Joon-ho, saying, “The movie is so crazy, it’s a completely different style of working.”