Funny guy Josh Peck knows that the most important part of comedy is being able to laugh at yourself, and the way he tells the story of his weight loss is a great example. The former “Drake and Josh” star recently came out with a memoir titled, “Happy People Are Annoying.” In it, he recalls his struggles with body image, addiction, and fitting in. As he explained to Today, the actor spent most of his life feeling like happiness was just out of reach. After looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places, he feels that he’s finally carved out his own serenity.
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“I assumed that I just didn’t receive the same manual to navigate life that everyone else got at birth,” Peck said. “So in writing this book, it was sort of about coming to terms with that idea, and what I had to face to find my own version of happiness and define it for myself.”
One of the reasons the comedian felt so out of place as a child was his size. He says it called a fair amount of unwanted attention to himself.
“I’d walk into most rooms at that age and at my weight at a disadvantage, that people made a snap judgment about me that I was, you know, slothful or lacked willpower or something,” he said. “And that it was incumbent on me to sort of not necessarily even stand out; I just wanted to be on the same level as everyone else.”
Josh Peck on weight loss: “I think I forgave my dad.”
Peck eventually slimmed down — and the reaction wasn’t necessarily what he was expecting.
“When I did lose the weight, there was certainly a small contingent that thought, ‘Oh, you were funnier when you were fat or you took away this guy who we loved and we’re not so sure if we love this new guy,” he recalled.
Still, there was something addictive about the feeling of having lost weight. As Peck told fellow comedian Bert Kreischer, he remembers how the experience brought him newfound confidence.
“Something had shifted,” he said, jokingly adding, “I think I forgave my dad.”
Unfortunately, Peck’s late teens and early twenties were also consumed by substance abuse, which the actor regrets. After seeing the damage his addiction had wrought in his life, he decidated himself to getting sober at 21. Now, he has a life that he’s proud of, which includes a loving wife and a 3-year-old son.
Watch the video below to hear Josh Peck’s hilarious take on weight loss.
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