Entertainment and Celebrity News

Rapper-turned-actor 50 Cent looked to Hollywood stars Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks and Christian Bale for inspiration as he embarked on a drastic weight loss regime for new movie Things Fall Apart.

The In Da Club hitmaker plays an footballer who is diagnosed with cancer in the film, which he wrote based on a friend’s tragic battle with the disease.

The hip-hop star, who survived on a liquid diet, lost 54 pounds (24.5 kilograms) for the role and stunned fans earlier this week (ends28May10) when he posted photos of his skeletal image online.

In an accompanying post, titled ‘50 Cent’s Shocking Slim-Down!’, 50 Cent wrote, “I lost 54 pounds for it. I was starving.”

But the rapper refused to let his hunger pains steer him off course and turned to other actors who had famously lost weight for films whenever he found his spirit diminishing.

He tells the Associated Press, “I actually got on the computer. When it started getting difficult, I was looking to see what their experience was like and I got a chance to see all of the interviews they had at different time periods when they were doing promotion for the projects.”

De Niro shed 35 pounds (15.9 kilograms) to play Travis Bickle in 1976 classic Taxi Driver, while Hanks lost the same amount of weight for his Oscar-winning role as a gay lawyer with AIDS in 1993 drama Philadelphia.

Bale went even further and dropped an astonishing 63 pounds (28.6 kilograms) in a matter of months to achieve his emaciated appearance in 2004’s The Machinist.

Rapper 50 Cent has shocked fans by unveiling his skeletal new image – the hip-hop star has posted photos on his online blog showing his drastic weight loss for new movie Things Fall Apart.

The musician-turned-actor plays a football player diagnosed with cancer in the film, which he also wrote based on a friend who died of the disease.

For the role 50 Cent lost 54 pounds (24 kilograms), and he has stunned fans by posting images of his new skinny look on his website.

In an accompanying post, titled ‘50 Cent’s Shocking Slim-Down!’, the In Da Club hitmaker writes, “I lost 54 pounds for it. I was starving.”

The rapper lost the weight by surviving on a liquid diet, and spent three hours a day on a treadmill.

Rapper 50 Cent is convinced politicians won’t launch a crackdown on illegal downloading until Hollywood studios begin to experience losses at the box office.

The hip-hop star fears the music industry needs new laws to regulate content which is available on the internet – because so many artists are losing money from illicit file-sharing.

But the In Da Club hitmaker is adamant the situation won’t change until it begins to affect the movie industry – and powerful film chiefs realize their pictures are being illegally accessed online.

He tells MTV news, “I don’t think the music business is dying. I think we’re just experiencing technology and we just have to pass new laws, eventually, to change how music is being distributed. It’s just about redeveloping what the music business is. It’s easier to download a song that’s three minutes long, probably about three or four seconds for you to download it, it’s easier to steal.

“When you got your blockbuster film doing $120 million in a weekend, and then (another) blockbuster film that they spent $120 million (on) comes out and nobody goes to see (it) but everybody watched it because they could pull it off their computer and see it on HD at home on a theater – they’ll change those laws.”