I’m a Celebrity star Jack Vidgen was labelled ‘too fat’ as a teenager and was pressured to lose 20kg after moving to Los Angeles
Jack Vidgen was willing to do anything to become a successful singer after winning Australia’s Got Talent in 2011 at the age of 14.
But a reckless comment from an ‘industry insider’ saw him lose 20kg in a dangerously short period of time in his pursuit of fame and fortune.
‘Someone when I was 15 gave a message to my manager that I was “too fat”,’ Jack said, in scenes set to air on Wednesday’s episode of I’m a Celebrity.
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‘I had huge body issues’: I’m A Celebrity star Jack Vidgen, 23, has revealed that he lost 20kg in his teens in his desperate attempt to ‘make it’ in Los Angeles after an industry insider said he was ‘too fat’. Pictured on 2021 season of I’m A Celebrity
THEN: Jack Vidgen first rose to fame as the baby-faced teenager who won Australia’s Got Talent almost a decade ago at the age of 14. Pictured in 2011
At the time, Jack felt his career as a pop star ‘was riding on’ losing weight quickly.
‘I had huge body issues, especially around 16, 17 years old… I lost 20kg when I moved to the States,’ he revealed.
After winning AGT, Jack relocated to Los Angeles alone at the age of 16.
Unfortunately, his $250,000 prize money soon ran dry and he returned to Australia two years later and worked in an aged-care home.
‘I stopped eating. It was horrible. I tried to mask it with a healthy way and say, “I’m in LA and I’m doing the green juices and I’m going vegan”, but really I was just starving myself and having a juice for dinner,’ Jack said of his troubled years in America.
‘I stopped eating. It was horrible’: Jack said he lost 20kg by essentially ‘starving himself’ in Los Angeles as he tried to ‘make it’ in the industry as a professional singer
Since rising to fame as a baby-faced teenager on Australia’s Got Talent almost a decade ago, Jack has completely transformed his look.
In fact, his looks have changed so drastically in the past 10 years that AGT’s former host Grant Denyer failed to immediately recognise Jack in the jungle.
Jack has previously spoken about his cosmetic procedures, and even addressed them on I’m A Celebrity with his camp mates in recent episodes.
My, how you have changed! Jack debuted a VERY glamorous new look over Christmas. Pictured: left in 2011, right in 2020
Honest: In May last year, Jack admitted to getting lip fillers and said he had finally found happiness in himself
Jack made a triumphant comeback on The Voice in 2019, after a five-year hiatus from the music industry.
Ahead of his debut on the singing contest, Jack also chose to publicly came out as a gay man.
For free and confidential support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Butterfly Foundation for eating disorder concerns on 1800 ED HOPE
Tune in: I’m A Celebrity continues on Wednesday from 7:30pm on Channel 10. Pictured: hosts Dr Chris Brown and Julia Morris