Sam Claflin reveals nerves around early topless scenes amid daily ‘struggle’ with body dysmorphia

Daisy Jones and the Six actor Sam Claflin has admitted he struggled with filming topless scenes earlier in his career, amid an “everyday struggle” with body dysmorphia.

The 39-year-old’s early roles included parts in the Pirates of the Caribbean and The Hunger Games franchises, and a number of his early roles involved shirtless scenes.

In a new interview on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, Claflin - who says he is still “incredibly insecure” about his looks - recalls being caught off guard by a request to go shirtless.

“A lot of the roles I played earlier on in my career… I had a topless scene in one of my first movies, but it wasn't in the script and I got told a week before they were going to [take] my top off,” he said.

“I was like, 's***, I haven't been working out, what am I going to do?' This is my first introduction to the world.”

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Reflecting on how he feels now, he continued: “I'm incredibly insecure. I just went to a screening of a film I was in and everyone immediately afterwards [asked], 'How was it?' And [I was like,] 'I hated it.' It's my face I don't like [it]’.”

Claflin also opened up about his struggle with body dysmorphia in an interview with The Telegraph in August last year.

“When I was cast in Pirates [of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides], I thought: 'What on earth am I doing here?'” he said. “There is this Hollywood assumption that it's the men with the six packs who sell the movie. So there was a pressure that that was what I needed to look like.

“As a result, I developed a form of body dysmorphia.”

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'It wasn't quite an eating disorder, and I'm not blaming anyone but myself, but it was definitely because of the industry I'm in,” he added.

Speaking to former Radio 1 host Cotton, Claflin added: “I've been massively affected [by body dysmorphia]. I'd say most guys are but I would say mine got quite bad.”

“It's a real struggle,” he continued. “It's like an everyday struggle. I am massively impacted by what other people think and if they think I look good or am a nice person.”

The NHS describes body dysmorphia as “a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance”.

“These flaws are often unnoticeable to others,” it adds.

For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this piece, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677.