Wentworth Miller had put on a few pounds in 2010 when he was photographed without his permission, for which he was body-shamed in a meme with that image in 2016. After that, he spoke up about the body-shaming and opened up about the reasons for his weight gain.
We all know Michael Scofield from Prison Break and we all know who plays Michael Scofield - Wentworth Miller.
Playing a gifted structural engineer who creates elaborate schemes to help his brother escape from prison, he was praised immensely for his acting prowess. He was even nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2005 for his acting in Prison Break.
Besides his acting skills, Wentworth Miller was also celebrated for his impressive and impossible physique.
Tattoos covering the character's full body combined with that body made him extremely desirable and he was often spoken of as the sexiest man alive. But he had bad days too and the world was there to laugh unwittingly at it.
Previously, we touched on the weight gain efforts of Mariska Hargitay and Alyson Hannigan.
Did Wentworth Miller Undergo Weight Gain?
Of course, he did! Everyone knows about this because of how his weight gain was used as meme material which was intended to be funny but came out as crass and distasteful. The year was 2010.
The Prison Break star who was admired for his fine physique as much as for his acting skills was unable to maintain his body and gained a few extra pounds.
During that weight gain, Wentworth Miller went out for a hike with a friend in Los Angeles when he happened to come across a film crew who was shooting for some reality show.
There was paparazzi around, which he was unaware of. The paparazzi there snapped Wentworth Miller's pictures, which he came to know about through the meme that circulated on the Internet sometime later in 2016.
The photos that were taken of him that day when he was just spending a quiet day with his friend, which was taken without his permission, were published in a meme that not only highlighted his weight gain from his early Prison Break days but did so in a mocking manner.
The meme was an image that showed two pictures of Wentworth side by side - one that is a still from his show Prison Break when he was super fit and another taken that day when he had put on a few, captioned with “When you break out of prison and find out about McDonald’s Monopoly…”
Those pictures were used to comment on the change in his body shape with the commentaries like Hunk to Chunk, and Fit to Flab.
How Did Wentworth Miller Respond to Those Memes?
After those images of the GoldenGlobe nominee went viral, Wentworth Miller got to know about it from his mother who got to know about it from her "friend" who clipped one of those articles from a popular national magazine and mailed it to Miller's mother. The Flash actor was not pleased with people making fun of him for weight gain.
So, he spoke out against it on the Internet. He wrote a long Facebook post about why it was damaging to him. That's when he revealed what was going on with him during that phase of his life.
Wentworth Miller shared that in 2010, he had been keeping a low-key profile and was semi-retired from acting, low-profile probably because it was the lowest point of his adult life when he considered himself damaged goods and was barely managing to not self-destruct. He was looking everywhere for distraction and settled with food.
Those days were the time Wentworth Miller was feeling suicidal when he suffered in silence and got through food. Those were the days when he was living to eat and the highlight of his life was a favorite meal and a new episode of Top Chef. Naturally, he put on weight.
For him to make it out of those times when he was in a mental health crisis physically unscathed just with a few pounds, and for people to make fun of his weight that was the consequence of him turning to food for comfort, this didn't sit well with him.
The American-British actor wrote that although he was initially hurt by those memes, he now looks at those pictures of him and gets reminded of not only his struggles but also his endurance and perseverance. That picture of him in a red shirt and a rare smile is now a source of pride to him.
What was the Response to His Response?
After Wentworth Miller called out the Facebook page for that meme, they immediately issued an apology and admitted they were in the wrong. Promises were made to cover certain matters in a responsible manner.
Turns out that in 2010, Miller was a closeted gay. He was also diagnosed with autism in 2020, which meant that he was unknowingly masking as a neurotypical before that.
Seeing that homosexual people struggle to be accepted in society and autistic people are social misfits which is one of the reasons they are more prone to suicidal tendencies, that meme was in really bad taste.
Even though everyone who saw the meme might have laughed at the joke, in hindsight, we can see how hurtful and vile the whole thing was.
Wentworth Miller's choosing to not be silent about it and explain why it was wrong has made people aware of how painful some jokes that are meant to be taken 'lightly' can be. Looks like people can learn from this particular episode and refrain in the future from making hurtful jokes at others' expense.
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