Imran Khan Opens Up on Consuming Steroids For Heroic Physique And Battling Depression

On Friday, Imran Khan took to his social media and admitted taking steroids after people criticised him for being skinny. He shared how he battled with depression and body shaming during his early phase of acting.

Imran Khan, popularly known for his character ‘Jai Rathore’ in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na has quit acting for a while now. The actor has left the industry but still somehow managed to be in touch with his fans for a long time. Imran is quite active on social media and has shared his life stories for a while now. On Friday, The ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ actor recently took to Instagram to share a post in which he spoke about dealing with body shaming, depression and more, while he was still working in cinemas. He shared how he got obsessed with bodybuilding and took steroids to ‘build up.’

Imran Khan on Battling With Body Image Issues

On Friday, Imaran shared a couple of pictures of his early acting days on social media. He revealed that he was always criticised for being skinny and used to compare himself with gym freaks, “I’ve always been skinny. I’m one of those hyper-metabolic people, my body just burns through whatever I consume. Oh no, what a terrible affliction! In my late teens, guys around me started joining gyms and working out. They started to expand, their biceps stretching the sleeves of their t-shirts. I wore a size S, and my sleeves were still loose.”

“I didn’t need to be muscular to play Jai Singh Rathore… but I was convinced that I was too skinny, which is why Jai mostly wears two layers of clothing throughout Jaane Tu. For my next film, Kidnap, I hit the gym in earnest, and began my journey with bodybuilding,” he added.

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A post shared by Imran Khan (@imrankhan)

Imran also said that filmmakers told him to build body as they felt he looked bit younger than his fellow female stars. “I worked out regularly, but still I would hear “So… you’ll bulk up a bit before we start shooting, right?”; “You’re looking weak”, “You look like a little boy, not a man”, and “The heroine looks bigger than you” (ouch for both of us!) (sic),”

Imran Khan Opens up on Taking Steroids And Struggling With Depression

Imran also wrote about the things he used to bulk up his body, which included taking steroids. He wrote, “Exercise means nothing without nutrition; 6 meals a day, totalling 4000 calories. Chicken breast, egg whites, sweet potato, oats, flax seeds… all good stuff, but still not enough to make my biceps look like the heroes I saw onscreen. No, for that I needed to supplement with whey protein, creatine, leucine, glutamine, L-carnitine… and ultimately, even anabolic steroids (sic).”

He also agreed that talking so openly about ingesting steroids would cause ‘shock and horror’ and that things like these are not supposed to be admitted out loud. “It could totally ruin the illusion”, he mentioned.

Imran Khan mentioned how his skinny pictures surfaced on the Internet sparked speculations of drug abuse, “He wrote, “In recent years, as I battled depression and stopped working out, I became skinnier than I’d ever been. When I was photographed, it sparked a media discussion about my wellbeing, and speculations of drug abuse! I felt deeply ashamed, and embarrassed to be seen by anyone in this state. So I retreated further (sic).”

He concluded by saying that he is in a happy space now and has been doing better than ever. He wrote that his focus is exercising with including some natural supplements like Walnuts and Turmeric.