Celebs are undeniably trendsetters in health and fitness. Celebrity diets are so intense, they’ve become famous in their own right. These meal plans are so strange, we’re too afraid to try them.
Shailene Woodley
In February 2017, Shailene Woodley revealed to David Letterman that she willingly eats clay — about a teaspoon each day via her at-home toothpaste recipe, in fact.
According to Woodley, eating clay helps rid one’s body of heavy metals and “radioactive isotopes.” She also reportedly takes her morning coffee with coconut oil and butter.
Apparently, this makes the drink taste like a latte, without sugar and cream. The sugar and cream are the best parts of any latte, so we’ll pass.
Audrey Hepburn
According to Hepburn’s son, his mother never dieted and basically lived off of pasta. Why can’t we eat all that and stay so thin?
“Mum had a serious pasta addiction,” Luca Dotti wrote in his book Audrey at Home. “She couldn’t do without pasta.” So do we, Audrey. So do we.
Hepburn also reportedly ate toast and jam for breakfast and indulge in some chocolate and Scotch after dinner. A true icon in more ways than one.
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor wrote about her relationship with dieting and weight-loss in her 1986 tell-all memoir, Elizabeth Takes Off. The book is currently out of print.
CR Fashion Book tracked down Taylor’s top recipes — including “chicken barbecued with lime and potato skins.” She also ate hamburger on toast with peanut butter and melon.
Taylor also recommended leaving a day to “pig out” on your favorite foods once you’ve reached your optimum weight. She advised against being too thin.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — ahem, Sarah Michelle Gellar — infamously followed a seven-day “cleanse.” According to tabloids, this was called the “cabbage soup diet.”
Gellar reportedly used this diet to stay slim during her Buffy days. She followed a rigid week-long diet plan that consisted of veggies, lean meats, and bland cabbage soup.
This blogger tried the diet in 2013 and reported having no energy and being completely grossed out by the end of the week. Ick.
Elvis Presley
Many believe that Elvis Presley’s bizarre diet led to his untimely death at the age of 42. Presley loved himself some meat with a side of carbs.
The King famously loved peanut butter, bacon, and banana sandwiches and “Fool’s Gold Loaf.” This is a hollowed-out sourdough loaf stuffed with peanut butter and jelly.
Presley also reportedly ate four scrambled eggs, deep-fried biscuits, bacon, and sausage, all smothered in butter for breakfast. Between meals, he ate bacon-wrapped meatballs. Woof.
Madonna
In 2010, Madonna and other celebs reportedly partook in a fad diet called the “Air Diet.” To do it, you pretend to eat food without actually consuming it.
The diet was started by the French magazine Grazia and featured in a Dolce & Gabbana campaign. It reportedly consisted solely of water and a salt-soup concoction.
It was based off of the belief that one can exist only by absorbing sunlight. Don’t try this one at home, kids. You’re not a plant.
Nicolas Cage
In 2010, Nicolas Cage told the U.K.’s Sun that his diet revolves around the the mating methods of animals. This is probably one of the weirdest celebrity diets.
“I actually choose the way I eat according to the way animals have sex,” Cage said. “I think fish are very dignified with sex. So are birds.”
Cage continued to state that he doesn’t eat pork because he doesn’t think the way pigs mate is as dignified as fish and fowl. Huh.
Marilyn Monroe
In Pageant Magazine, Marilyn Monroe detailed her diet and minimal workout routine. “I’ve been told that my eating habits are absolutely bizarre, but I don’t think so,” she said.
For breakfast, Monroe would down two raw eggs cracked into a glass of warm milk. For dinner, she ate broiled steak, liver, or lamb chops.
She’d snack on raw carrots in-between meals. Although her daily diet was strict, Monroe allowed herself to indulge in ice cream fairly often, which we support.
Marlon Brando
Unlike other celebrity diets, Brando’s consisted of peanut butter by the jarful, and boxes upon boxes of Mallomars and Cinnamon Buns. He really loved his junk food.
Brando’s close friend, Carlo Fiore, said that Brando would try crash diets in the sixties and seventies. However, he just couldn’t stick with them.
Brando’s wife reportedly locked the refrigerator to keep Brando from gorging on cheese at night. He was even nicknamed “Branflakes” because he loved his huge, fatty breakfasts.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie reportedly relies on “ancient grains” to stay slender, according to a 2014 Marie Claire U.K. article. So, what even are “ancient grains”?
The actress supposedly sticks to a diet of quinoa, millet, chia seeds, spelt and buckwheat. She claims they give her necessary nutrients and “shinier skin.”
Furthermore, as of 2011, the Pitt-Jolie kids snack on crickets. Definitely not the weirdest of celebrity diets, but definitely on the more high-maintenance side.
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow claimed she could lose six pounds in four days. According to historian Adrienne Rose Bitar, she “promoted a diet of lamb chops, steak, Jell-O, and tomatoes.”
Harlow would sometimes add a bit of spinach or a hardboiled egg into the mix when she wanted variety. She drank black coffee at each mealtime.
Harlow died of kidney failure at 26. Trying to lose six pounds in four days is never a good idea (especially when you had scarlet fever at 15).
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
If you have a bod like The Rock’s, you better be eating enough food to nourish all that muscle. Apparently, Johnson wolfs down 5,000 calories daily.
He eats about 12 eggs, 36 to 52 ounces of cod, and somewhere around 5.5 cups of white rice. He also eats a ton of sweet potatoes.
On cheat days, Johnson will nosh on some sushi, sweets, and banana chocolate chip pancakes. According to Mashed, Johnson can pack away five to seven meals per day.
Chrissy Teigen
In 2017, Chrissy Teigen ate an entire branzino fish every single night. Teigen told Refinery29 that her mother prepares it “covered in garlic and olive oil…” Yummy!
“I go, ‘Mom! Guess what time it is?’ And she gets all sad and…goes: ‘Fish timeeee.’ Cuz… she has to… mince the garlic, which takes forever,” Teigen said.
She’s previously shared her love for branzino on Twitter. Although it looks tasty, we’re not sure if we could manage to eat branzino every night of the week.
Tom Brady
Tom Brady sticks to a strict diet of “alkalizing” and “anti-inflammatory” foods. According to Vox, this allegedly keeps him energized and reduces his risk for bone fractures.
Anti-inflammatory foods supposedly help him recover from injuries at a faster rate. Basically, Brady avoids alcohol, gluten, corn, dairy, trans fats, sugar, soy, grain-based foods and GMOs.
So, what does he eat? Locally-grown organic fruits and vegetables (except for those of the nightshade variety like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers), water, and protein shakes.
Kourtney Kardashian
Out of all the weird celebrity diets, we really don’t want to try this one. Kardashian took placenta pills after giving birth to her third child.
The pills are dehydrated and ground up bits of placenta. Allegedly, they decrease symptoms of postpartum depression, restore iron levels, boost oxytocin, and help a mother produce milk.
However, placenta pills have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Even though Kardashian claims they “changed her life,” we think we’ll sit this one out.
Heidi Montag
Heidi Montag, of reality TV fame, shocked everyone when she switched to a raw diet. In an image circulated by People, she gnawed on a raw bison heart.
Apparently, she believed that this would help her conceive another child. Her favorite type of raw meat to munch on was organs, like livers and hearts.
Montag was actually able to conceive a second child, if you can believe it. Somehow, we doubt it had anything to do with the raw meat.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
The bodybuilder/actor/former governor’s diet will definitely surprise you. He eats lots of plants, but the key to his everyday diet is a mix of protein shake and booze.
According to Schwarzenegger, adding a shot of liquor to protein shakes helps his body quickly absorb the protein. Yeah…we don’t think so. That sounds like a convenient excuse.
He doesn’t add just any alcohol to his shakes, either. His favorites are tequila and schnapps (though we don’t know which flavor). Stick to regular protein shakes, kids.
Mariah Carey
We don’t know if this famously talented singer (and infamously sassy diva) still sticks to this diet. For her sake, we hope she doesn’t.
In 2016, though, salmon and capers were all she ate. Apparently, this was in an effort to lose weight and introduce more protein to her diet.
Salmon does have a lot of protein, to be fair. That’s pretty much all we can say about this diet. Variety is good, people!
Kate Middleton
To prepare for her wedding to Prince William, Kate Middleton followed the high protein, low carb Dukan Diet. If you watched her wedding, you know that it works.
This diet has four phases, the first of which involves eating protein-heavy foods. While this doesn’t seem too bad on the surface, it’s not worth it.
The diet is very strict and particular. Not only does it not provide all the necessary nutrients your body needs, it can cause liver and/or kidney diseases.
Reese Witherspoon
If the rumors are to be believed, Witherspoon eats baby food – 14 jars a day, to be exact. We don’t know if this is accurate, though.
She hasn’t publicly admitted to eating baby food. With all the weird celebrity diets we’ve seen so far, we wouldn’t be shocked if she ate it in secret.
This is a diet that’s mainly practiced for calorie restriction purposes. A grown adult can’t get their necessary nutrients from baby food. Don’t try this at home.
Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera follows the “rainbow diet” — sounds fun, right? We’re actually in full support of this. It’s one of the best celebrity diets out there.
It’s mostly plant-based, and follows a simple premise: incorporate different colors into your meals. This is proven to help you get your nutrients and vitamins.
So, if you’re eating a salad, don’t just top it with tomatoes. Include carrots, olives, avocados, eggs, etc. It doesn’t emphasize restriction at all.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry used to replaces one meal a day with raw mushrooms. Well, sort of. She followed a diet called “The M Plan” that was all about mushrooms.
From what we’ve seen, it doesn’t seem like she was eating straight mushrooms. Rather, the meal was supposed to be mushroom-based, so mushrooms heavily featured.
Mushrooms were seen as a low calorie, and high fiber and protein meal replacement. It can’t hurt to eat more of them, but we wouldn’t go this far.
Gwyneth Paltrow
If you know anything about Gwyneth Paltrow, you’re unsurprised to see her on this list. She’s the founder of Goop. Of course she’d try weird diets.
She doesn’t eat clay or baby food, but her diet is incredibly restrictive. If you’re looking for the best celebrity diets, steer clear of this one.
She has a cup of coffee for breakfast, bone broth for lunch, and vegetables for dinner. She gave that the Paleo diet as the reasoning behind her dinners.
Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Normal, right? Well…maybe not so much. He likes one really weird topping on his PB&Js: Cheetos.
We don’t know what kind of Cheetos, but we don’t think it matters. We can’t think of any kind of cheeto that would taste good on a PB&J.
If you’re hungry after a night out, it might taste good. He also likes lots of jelly on them, which we’re going to have to respectfully disagree with.
Anne Hathaway
Unlike most of the celebrities on this list, Hathaway didn’t want to do this. To lose weight for Les Mis, she replaced her meals with dried oatmeal paste.
If you’re unfamiliar with Les Mis, Hathaway played a character named Fantine, who looks sickly. To replicate that, Hathaway underwent this really harsh diet.
It wasn’t good for Hathaway, either. She said that it negatively effected her health. We don’t think it was worth it. She would have nailed it regardless.
Kim Kardashian
She’s Kim Kardashian. Of course she’s tried some weird diets. One of the weirdest (and most extreme) diets she’s allegedly tried is the Five Factor Diet.
If you’re not good at math, you won’t be good at this diet (which might honestly be a good thing). It all hinges on the number five.
That means five meals a day, from five pre-selected food categories, with five ingredients, all sugar-free. It works for Kim, but it’s way too complicated for us.
Chris Martin
Gwyneth Paltrow’s ex-husband also has some weird dieting habits. Still, the Coldplay frontman’s diet isn’t as bad as his ex-wife’s. So, what’s weird about Chris Martin’s diet?
Well, in an interview, he admitted to skipping dinners. Apparently, in an effort to shed some pounds, Martin stopped eating any food after 4 pm.
We don’t know what he eats generally, but if it’s filling, then we suppose it’s not too bad. We couldn’t give up our midnight snacks, though.
Queen Elizabeth II
Is anyone surprised to see the Queen on here? If her daughter-in-law has weird eating habits, then you can bet that the Queen did, too.
The royals are weird! They by no means have the best celebrity diets. Honestly, they probably have the worst. So, what did Queen Elizabeth do?
Well, we’re sure there’s lots of things, but one thing stands out in particular. To seem civilized, she ate bananas with a fork and knife.
Gene Simmons
As far as we know, Gene Simmons, the bassist for KISS, hasn’t followed any overly restrictive diets to lose weight. However, he does have some weird eating habits.
He eats his cereal with milk, which, you know, is normal…and then he adds ice cubes. He openly admitted this on Twitter (or X), too.
We don’t know why someone would openly admit to this, but we admire his bravery. Maybe he likes to have his milk watered down?
Bella Ramsey
Gene Simmons isn’t the only one that has weird cereal-eating habits. Bella Ramsey, who shot to popularity after starring in “The Last of Us,” does too.
On the bright side of things, they don’t put ice cubes in their cereal. However, what they do might actually be a lot worse.
Ramsey can’t have milk, so they opt for orange juice. We don’t know if they like their orange juice pulpy or not, and we’re too afraid to ask.
