14 DAY TRIAL // Not long ago, Tyrese Gibson, the handsome male model who had managed to cross over from the fashion industry to movies and music, was the hottest commodity on the market. There was nothing that he touched that did not instantly turn to gold, and he knew that better than anyone – so he just stopped caring. He packed on the pounds, saw his career take a downturn and everything fall to pieces. It took him many months to be able to say again that he’s back to his old self, slimmer and happier than ever, and he does so in the latest issue of Men’s Health.
Tyrese says that, once he noticed that no matter what he did people were still asking for him, he stopped caring. He took things for granted and this ultimately cost him a lot, including almost getting to see his entire career go down the drain. When the offers stopped coming and the only people still talking to him where just as indolent and careless as he was, a change also occurred in Tyrese’s once-oh-so-chiseled body, the same body that would get girls swooning every time he stepped on the catwalk.
He gained almost 50 pounds and was, for once, thankful that mirrors Steam up when you take a shower, so he wouldn’t have to see his reflection. Admittedly, Tyrese only managed to break free from this life when he met Will Smith, a man who was far happier than he was and who had the ability to recognize what Tyrese describes as a “lost soul.” Smith taught Gibson the most important lesson, the actor says for the mag: in order to change your life, you need to change you friends because they influence everything that you do.
So Tyrese did. He started going to the gym and making friends there. “It’s very simple. You walk up to a guy and say, ‘Yo, my man, how’d you get your arms so lean and ripped like that? Let me jump in with you on a set’.” Tyrese says. In order to change his diet, he started hanging around people who ate healthier than his old set of acquaintances. This way, he has made the switch from fried calamari to tuna and salad for lunch, and he no longer eats fried food or stuff that he knows for certain are not good for his health.
“When you look a certain way, that says how you feel about yourself. When you’re in shape, you don’t have to walk up to somebody and say, ‘Yo, I love myself.’ You look like you care for yourself.” the actor, now star of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” explains. His motivation continues to be Will Smith but he has found other ways as well to remind him why he does not want to go back to the man he was months ago. One of them would be Tyren, who is actually the old Tyrese himself, and of whom he says he’s fat, lazy and a leech that continues to pine over their dead friendship. “Tyren is mad that he doesn’t have me no more.” Gibson says with glee.