Woody Harrelson has been vegan for more than three decades. In his mid-20s, the actor initially gave up dairy in an effort to clear up acne. When that worked, he decided to go further by eliminating meat and fish and adopting a raw vegan diet. He discovered that he felt better than ever.
“When I first started shifting my diet, it wasn’t as much a moral or an ethical pursuit but an energetic pursuit,” he previously told InStyle.
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Over time, however, Harrelson’s motivations evolved. He is now a vocal advocate for animal rights and has teamed up with activists on multiple occasions to encourage people to cut animal products from their diets for ethical reasons. He has also become a strong voice for environmental causes. In 2020, he narrated the climate-focused documentary Kiss the Ground.
Harrelson’s passion for veganism extends into his professional life, and it has had a clear impact. Over the years, the actor has influenced more than one co-star to adopt a fully vegan lifestyle. But who exactly has followed his lead?
Woody Harrelson helped these celebrities go vegan
Read on to find out (and don’t be surprised if this list continues to grow before Harrelson retires).
Gage Skidmore | Wikimedia Commons
1Sadie Sink
Sadie Sink is best known for her role as Max Mayfield in the Netflix hit Stranger Things, but the breakout role was far from her first acting job. She began her career in theater before landing roles in television series such as American Odyssey and films including 2016’s Chuck and 2017’s The Glass Castle.
It was during the filming of the latter that she met Harrelson and his family. Sink was already vegetarian at the time, but their influence encouraged her to take the next step.
“His daughter and I had a three-day sleepover, and the entire time I was with them I felt good about what I was eating, and not like I was missing anything,” Sink told Elle in 2019.
Gage Skidmore | Wikimedia Commons
2Thandiwe Newton
Thandiwe Newton starred alongside Harrelson in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, and it was during the filming process that she decided to follow his lead and ditch animal products.
Speaking to Associated Press, Newton highlighted the importance of vegan representation on set. “I think it’s good to have a vegan in the mix … a vegan in a position of power,” she said. “I have been vegan since working with Woody.”
Gage Skidmore | Wikimedia Commons
3Liam Hemsworth
Liam Hemsworth worked with Harrelson on The Hunger Games, and he, too, took inspiration from the vegan A-lister to change his diet. Although Hemsworth returned to eating meat in 2019, he followed Harrelson’s influence for roughly four years before that.
“Woody Harrelson was actually one of the original reasons I became vegan, because he’s been vegan for, I don’t know, 30 years or something,” Hemsworth told Men’s Journal in 2015. “So, with the facts I was gathering, and then just how I was physically feeling, I felt like I had to do something different, so I adopted this vegan-diet lifestyle. It’s been almost five months now.”
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Charlotte is a VegNews editor and writer based in sunny Southsea on England's southern coast.
