Slimmed-down actor John Goodman has revealed what triggered his weight to escalate to 180 kilograms before he focused on transforming his life.

The 74-year-old Roseanne star said that after he quit drinking at the age of 55, he turned to food and started “eating alcoholically”.

In an interview with The New Yorker this month, Goodman said that before giving up the bottle he would try to lose weight.

“I’d lose 60 pounds in a summer, gain it all back. Seventy pounds, 80 pounds. And that got tiring,” Goodman said.

When he hit almost 180 kilograms, he took steps “so I wouldn’t have to do that anymore” and underwent an operation on his stomach.

One side effect of that was that he “turned anaemic” from the extreme weight loss.

Goodman said he decided to get sober because “I got sick and tired of being sick and tired”.

“The thing about instant gratification is you don’t really care what’s going to happen right after it—which always led to bigger hangovers or me getting the shakes, and having to drink to get rid of the shakes, and that vicious cycle.

“I was in a position, when I quit, where I had to be hospitalised one way or the other.”

By this stage, Goodman said he was more concerned with saving his life than worrying about losing his “big kid” persona.

“I just was tired of it, and I wanted to stop. I was overlooking real life. And it was great to see there was a life where I didn’t have to use anything to enjoy it.”

John Goodman arrives at the premiere of Digger in Los Angeles last month. Photo: AAP

An almost unrecognisable Goodman, the former star of TV comedy hit Roseanne, showed off his dramatically slimmed-down figure on the red-carpet in 2023 at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco.

The transformation took 16 years and left the Righteous Gemstones actor unrecognisable to many fans.

Goodman has been open about his health battles.

“It takes a lot creative energy to sit on your ass and figure out what you’re going to eat next … I wanted to live life better,” he told People magazine in 2010.

In 2017, he revealed that missing a rehearsal for the 2007 Emmys had been the trigger he needed.

“By the time Sunday morning rolled around I was shaking; I was still drinking, but I was still shaking,” he said.

“I had the clarity of thought that I needed to be hospitalised. I called my wife, which was like turning myself into the Gestapo. And she made some phone calls; we got me into a treatment centre, and I detoxed there and decided I liked the feeling. And it’s been 10 years.”

Goodman has been married to Anna Beth Hartzog since 1989. The couple have a daughter, Molly, 32.

In 2016, Goodman estimated that he weighed 181 kilograms before deciding to make a change.

Goodman was also driven by unhappiness with his appearance.

“I just got tired, sick and tired of looking at myself,” he said.

“You’re shaving in the mirror and you don’t want to look at yourself. It gets dangerous.”

John Goodman pictured in 2014 in Los Angeles. Photo: AAP

Goodman’s personal trainer Mackie Shilstone has revealed the actor follows a “Mediterranean-style eating plan”, which incorporates fish, nuts, olive oil, vegetables and fruit. He also works out, exercises six days a week and walks up to 20,000 steps a day.

Goodman has also been a non-drinker for years, crediting that with helping with his weight loss. In 2018, he revealed that he would drink on set while filming Roseanne, which originally ran from 1988 to 1997.

“I got so lucky, because I was still getting hired for things, but the fact is, I was drinking at work,” Goodman said during an interview on US TV.

“My speech would be slurred. I thought I was fooling people. My cheeks would turn bright red when I was liquored up. I just looked like a stop sign.”

The first signs his dramatic health plan was working was when Goodman debuted a dramatic 45-kilogram weight loss on the red carpet for Trumbo in late 2015. Since then, he is believed to have lost at least that much again.