Josh Peck first shot to fame in 00s TV show Drake & Josh (Picture: Nickelodeon)
Former 00s child star Josh Peck has revealed his fans were fuming after he embarked on a weight loss transformation.
The actor, who starred in kids’ TV show Drake & Josh, said they were ‘angry’ when he lost 100 pounds over two years when he was a teenager.
‘I had taken away a person that they had fallen in love with and they weren’t sure whether they loved this new guy,’ the 37-year-old explained.
Josh quipped on his Good Guys podcast: ‘But my cardiologist loved him.’
The Oppenheimer actor was speaking about his early career with fellow child star Hilary Duff, who shot to fame on TV series Lizzie McGuire.
Hilary said her fans also struggled when she no longer wanted to inhabit that character.
The 36-year-old recalled: ‘For so long, people were just like, “Lizzie, Lizzie Lizzie” and still do now to this day – which doesn’t bother me anymore – but it did for a while.
He said when he was 17 he began losing weight (Picture: Unique Nicole/FilmMagic)
However, he said fans were not supportive of his transformation (Picture: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
‘I just desperately needed to be my own person. I remember being on tour and having mothers come up to me and be like, “Never change whatever you do. Just never, never, never change.”
‘And I would go into my dressing room after meet and greet and just be like, “What?” I mean it’s just like how you had to navigate it [too]. It’s been tricky.’
In 2022, Josh released his memoir Happy People Are Annoying
where he opened up about his public weight struggle and a secret drug
addiction.
He said: ‘I was always looking for something outside to fix my insides.
Hilary said fans were desperate for her to remain as Lizzie (Picture: Disney)
But she said she longed to be her own person (Picture: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Below 60)
‘But eventually, I saw that whether my life was beyond my wildest dreams
or a total mess, it didn’t change the temperature of what was going on
in my mind.’
Josh continued: ‘It took me a really long time to love the 15-year-old version of me.
‘But now I understand how strong he was. And I feel like everything in my
life set me up to find this chapter of health, peace and contentment.’
After starring in Drake & Josh, Josh went on to win roles in films such as Meen Creek and Battle of the Year.
The performer also starred in the Disney Plus series Turner & Hooch, based on the 1989 film of the same name, and voiced Eddie in the Ice Age franchise.
Most recently, he featured in iCarly, Junction, How I Met Your Father, and the blockbuster Oppenheimer.
His latest venture will be presenting the new food competition series Best Bite Wins for US platform Roku.
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