A 'Varsity Blues' Star's Dramatic Weight Loss
I didn't even recgonize him!!!
Once a hefty 508 pounds, 'Varsity Blues' star RON LESTER went under an incredible transformation, dropping a dramatic 350 pounds in just over two years. Now, Ron tells us how he did it -- and recalls the day he almost took his life!
'I would much rather be anonymous and alive than famous and dead,' Ron tells ET.
The 33-year-old actor, who also starred in 'Good Burger,' 'Not Another Teen Movie' and the TV show 'Popular,' had 16 plastic surgery operations, gastric bypass surgery and a procedure that removed three quarters of his stomach. So what prompted Ron -- who now weighs a svelte 160 pounds -- to drop the weight and get in shape?
'I fell in love with a girl and I just said, 'You know what, I have to lose the weight because I want to be able to get down on the floor, play with my kids and not roll over and suffocate them,' you know?' he explains. 'And be a good lover and the perfect father. And you can't do that at 508 pounds, so I just realized that I had to do something about it.'
Depression was another factor that prompted Ron to take action. Labeled the 'fat kid' ever since elementary school, Ron says he became the class clown and would joke about his own weight as a defense mechanism. But losing some of his best friends in high school and then the death of his favorite sister prompted him to attempt suicide.
'I took a gun, lowered it, put it to my head and I pulled the trigger,' confesses Ron. 'And the best thing about it, it was a dud. So to me it was a sign from God saying, 'Look, I got things planned for you. You ain't cheatin' me out of my plans.''
Ron began to lose the weight in 2001, but he still hadn't had any plastic surgery, so his excess skin was 'just droopy' and too much for his body. He started dating a girl but was subsequently rejected when she told him, 'I'll forever remember your skin and not you.' Ron contemplated suicide again, but was thwarted by a friend. The next day, his doctor called and told him he was approved for plastic surgery. 'So everything happens for a reason,' he says.
But the whole transformation from 508 pounds to 160 wasn't easy. Ron says he 'flatlined' on the operating table during his first stomach surgery and while his health insurance did cover his stomach operations, plastic surgery was not covered, so Ron had to dish out more than $300,000 from his own pockets to achieve his current state.
'I went from being able to afford a Ferrari and not fitting in it to now I can fit in it but I can't afford it,' he says. 'I'm wearing my body.'
After taking a break, Ron is back at work and moving forward with his new lease on life. He is planning to write a book on his experience and already has a pair of films in the works: 'The Karate Dog,' with 'Varsity Blues' co-star JON VOIGHT, and the indie film 'Requiem,' in which he has a nude scene, no less!
'I may have died on the table,' says Ron, 'But you know what? I have a second chance, and that's another reason I'm on Entertainment Tonight, because if I change one person's life, that's enough.'
Once a hefty 508 pounds, 'Varsity Blues' star RON LESTER went under an incredible transformation, dropping a dramatic 350 pounds in just over two years. Now, Ron tells us how he did it -- and recalls the day he almost took his life!
'I would much rather be anonymous and alive than famous and dead,' Ron tells ET.
The 33-year-old actor, who also starred in 'Good Burger,' 'Not Another Teen Movie' and the TV show 'Popular,' had 16 plastic surgery operations, gastric bypass surgery and a procedure that removed three quarters of his stomach. So what prompted Ron -- who now weighs a svelte 160 pounds -- to drop the weight and get in shape?
'I fell in love with a girl and I just said, 'You know what, I have to lose the weight because I want to be able to get down on the floor, play with my kids and not roll over and suffocate them,' you know?' he explains. 'And be a good lover and the perfect father. And you can't do that at 508 pounds, so I just realized that I had to do something about it.'
Depression was another factor that prompted Ron to take action. Labeled the 'fat kid' ever since elementary school, Ron says he became the class clown and would joke about his own weight as a defense mechanism. But losing some of his best friends in high school and then the death of his favorite sister prompted him to attempt suicide.
'I took a gun, lowered it, put it to my head and I pulled the trigger,' confesses Ron. 'And the best thing about it, it was a dud. So to me it was a sign from God saying, 'Look, I got things planned for you. You ain't cheatin' me out of my plans.''
Ron began to lose the weight in 2001, but he still hadn't had any plastic surgery, so his excess skin was 'just droopy' and too much for his body. He started dating a girl but was subsequently rejected when she told him, 'I'll forever remember your skin and not you.' Ron contemplated suicide again, but was thwarted by a friend. The next day, his doctor called and told him he was approved for plastic surgery. 'So everything happens for a reason,' he says.
But the whole transformation from 508 pounds to 160 wasn't easy. Ron says he 'flatlined' on the operating table during his first stomach surgery and while his health insurance did cover his stomach operations, plastic surgery was not covered, so Ron had to dish out more than $300,000 from his own pockets to achieve his current state.
'I went from being able to afford a Ferrari and not fitting in it to now I can fit in it but I can't afford it,' he says. 'I'm wearing my body.'
After taking a break, Ron is back at work and moving forward with his new lease on life. He is planning to write a book on his experience and already has a pair of films in the works: 'The Karate Dog,' with 'Varsity Blues' co-star JON VOIGHT, and the indie film 'Requiem,' in which he has a nude scene, no less!
'I may have died on the table,' says Ron, 'But you know what? I have a second chance, and that's another reason I'm on Entertainment Tonight, because if I change one person's life, that's enough.'
