Luke Evans reveals he sometimes gets 'terrible anxiety' over body insecurities

Even Gaston himself grapples with body image insecurities.

Luke Evans, 45, who played the very vain but extremely fit character in the live-action Beauty and the Beast film, got very candid about the topic on the newest episode of the How to Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast.

“I still sometimes go to the gym and just feel very anxious,” he explained. “I look at myself in the mirror and just go, ‘You don’t look good enough,’ or ‘You’re letting it go.’ I look at my face…the terrible part of my industry is that you’re just reminded constantly of the decades of film you’ve done when you had not a crease on the face and not one gray stubble, whereas all my stubble is now gray.”

“I’ve had to learn to be kinder to myself, but I have terrible anxiety about feeling good enough physically,” he continued. “Part of that isn’t completely bad [because] it gives you a little something to fight for, but it can be overwhelming. I’ve been on a beach just recently, and I didn’t want to take my T-shirt off. I don’t want to be in that place. I know I shouldn’t feel like that, but you know we are sensitive creatures, we’re very delicate. As hard as I may look, I am quite delicate.”

Though he's known for roles in several films that require a certain physique — The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, and the Fast & Furious and The Hobbit franchises, to name a few — Evans admitted that staying in good shape is just part of his job, and in fact, if he wasn’t an actor, he doesn't think he would look or feel the way he does now.

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“I’m sure if I didn’t have to go and take my top off on a movie set every now and again, I’d probably let it all go,” he said. “I wouldn’t care so much, but it is part of my job. I get cast in certain roles that require a certain amount of physical strength and aesthetic. It’s been good because it’s probably kept me on the straight and narrow.”

However, that self-awareness hasn't stopped him from comparing himself to others, and wishing he could walk around as confidently in his own skin as some people seem to do.

“When I do, it’s a whole lot of work when I have to present that,” he admitted on the podcast, though it's not all bad news for the star. Evans concluded: “I’m not massively confident about lots of things about me, but I’ve learned to deal with it, not ignore it and understand why and process it, but it doesn’t go away.”