Henry Cavill speaking about being fat-shamed sends an important message

Henry Cavill is a Hollywood heartthrob, who has been praised for his action scenes and his workouts, so you’d never suspect that he was once fat-shamed.

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The Man of Steel star revealed during an interview with People magazine that he was mercilessly teased for being overweight as a teen.

“I was teased and it was hard,” he revealed to the mag of his time at the St. Michael’s Preparatory School in Saint Saviour, Jersey.

“Even though for some it may be malicious, I think it’s just kids being kids, and I don’t hold any grudges,” he says. “People have had it far worse than me.”

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Cavill is in incredible shape now and insists he has no resentment towards his bullies but he did mention that there are other people who have it much worse than him and therein lies the problem. Is fat-shaming becoming such a norm that we have to justify this behaviour and brush it off as not being so bad because there are others with far worse experiences?

That said the fact that Cavill is opening up about the torment he suffered at the hands of others is truly inspiring. It also sends out a powerful message and brings awareness to the fact that people across the world are being made to feel shame for their imperfections — and this is something that needs to stop. Bullies can cause deep and lasting psychological pain and no one should be made to feel inadequate about their appearance.

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Cavill, for his part, reveals that his experiences changed how he saw the world but he managed to take something good from it.

“Someone who is on the outskirts of popularity is someone who gets to look in,” he explained. “So I became very much an observer, and that taught me an awful lot about people.”

He adds, “It helped me read people very well, which has helped me in this industry. If I can understand the inner workings of a human being, then I can probably be a better actor.”