Will Poulter Explained Why He's "Careful" When Talking About His Body Image

This post contains discussion of body image issues.

You know Will Poulter from plenty of things at this point.

And if you're headed to the movies this weekend, you're probably going to see him appear in the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Will talked about the recent changes to his body that took place prior to filming the latest Guardians movie, as well as his relationship to body image issues in general.

Will talked about how people have expressed shock at his overall transformation since first breaking out in We're the Millers back in 2013.

“People are acting like I played Kenny Miller in 2013 and then woke up and now I look like I do, like there was some strange and mystical explanation behind it,” he said. “I just grew up, like every other human being on Earth.”

“It’s quite odd, because I’ve sort of formed my personality around looking a certain way,” he continued. “Psychologically, I’m still 5-foot-4 because that’s what I was at school. Even being tall is something that I’m still getting used to!”

Will then went on to talk about why he's "careful" to talk about the changes his body's undergone. "There’s a lot of pressure out there on young people, both men and women, regarding body image," he said.

"If you’re going to promote the process by which you achieved said body goal, I think you have to be fully transparent about how you got there."

Will also said that it does "bug" him that "anyone might believe that, or think that I went about" bringing about changes in his body that "would contradict what I’m an advocate of." "I guess it’s about learning to relinquish your control over that sort of thing and just hope that there’s enough people who know what’s up," he explained.

He revealed that his mother had even sent him comments from people wondering if he'd gotten plastic surgery — but Will urged that “If you want to do it in a way that’s safe and is entirely natural, you have to be prepared to spend a long period of time doing it."

“There’s no way that I could’ve got into the shape that I got had I not been working out for a number of years prior and built up foundations.”

Read the entire interview here.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-888-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.