The British actor opened up to The Guardian about his “deep insecurity” regarding his physique when he was younger that it led to the star wearing a padded bodysuit under his clothes to give himself a more muscular appearance on screen. “I met these two queens in Tufnell Park [in London] who made bodysuits, and they made me a false bottom, false calves, false shoulders, false everything,” he told the masthead. When asked if he wore the custom-made items while starring on his movies, Everett replied, “Yes, in everything.” Although, no one on set – not even the directors – knew of the secret bodysuit. “I’d go into the fittings for the costumes with all my things on,” he shared. The 67-year-old – who has starred in films such as The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband and My Best Friend’s Wedding – said that at 193cm tall he often felt awkward in his own skin. “My arse was like two bones and a hole. And my legs were skeletal,” he explained of why he needed to enhance his bottom and bulk up his frame.
Everett has spoken about his quest for perfection before, revealing in a 2024 Daily Mail interview that early in his career he was fixated with emulating Hollywood action stars. “I was always trying to turn myself into the conventional Hollywood star I wanted to be when I was a kid,” he told the outlet. “I wanted to be Tom Cruise! But I was a 6ft 5in beanpole looking like a cross between Snow White and Anne Frank.” Everett then started hitting the gym to sculpt his physique but admitted he did not train properly and now his body is paying the price. “I ruined myself. Now I’m almost crippled as a result,” he continued in The Guardian interview. “I could never be bothered to do all those things, like stretching, which were necessary for lifting weights, because your tendons get tighter and tighter. So boring.
I didn’t do any of that. So now my demise will be musculoskeletal, I think.”