Here are 30 O.G. vegan celebrities who have been vegan 5+ years…
When it comes to veganism we’ve seen many celebrities come and go. Yet, you may be surprised to learn that there are also quite a few who have been vegan for years! Many have truly adopted it as an indefinite way of life. Here are some vegan celebrities who are truly about this vegan life for the long haul.
1. Mac Danzig is a vegan martial artist. Danzig went vegan 8 years ago in 2004 after experiencing a ‘conscientious’ moment. In a UFC interview Danzig describes his transition to veganism. ” So I ate some chicken breasts in my freezer because I didn’t want to waste it. It wasn’t good or bad. It didn’t make me want to eat any other meat or miss meat. That was just the last time I ate meat.”
2. Ruby Rose, the Orange Is The New Black star became vegan as a child. She spoke about her transition to veganism during a Discovery Channel program called Shark after Dark. Rose described a childhood memory of learning that the shark fin soup that she ate as a child actually had real shark fins in it. Rose hasn’t turned back since.
3. Mayim Bialik, Big Bang Theory star has been vegan for nearly 15 years since 2005. She has since become a grain bowl restaurateur.
4. Travis Barker, drummer for the rock band Blink-182 has been vegan for 11 years since 2009. He made the decision as part of a promise he made to himself after surviving a tragic plane crash with his friend DJ AM.* So far, so good.
5. Alan Cumming, Actor, director and entertainer has been vegan for 8 years since 2012. Cumming declared veganism after being inspired by vegan boxer Mike Tyson. On a Dec 30, 2011 Twitter post Cumming wrote, “That’s it. I was toying with going the whole hog to veganism and now I see Mike Tyson is the new Vegan posterboy! Sold! Get ye back, seitan!”
6. Joaquin Phoenix, Actor and animal rights activist has been vegan since the age of 3. In an interview with Collider, Phoenix described the moment he decided to go vegan. “Really it was seeing these fish being killed when I was on a boat as a kid. I guess to stun them they were throwing them against the side of the boat. I just had a profound strong reaction. It felt like a real injustice. It wasn’t just me..”
7. Bellamy Young, Scandal star became vegan 32 years ago in 1988! Young made the decision while still in college. Throughout that time Young has been a long time supporter of shelter adoption and also participated in the 2016 PETA campaign. In a YouBeauty interview Young explains, “It came to me in a very strange way. I was at college, it was sophomore year and I got the baked breast of chicken and they sort of plated it weird. As I lowered it down to my tray, it looked exactly like my mom’s little furry yippy dog when she’d roll over and want you to rub her tummy. That was it. for me”
8. Sir Paul McCartney, musician and animal advocate has been vegan for 45 years, since 1975! Needless to say Sir Paul McCartney’s vegan advocacy is legendary.
9. James Cameron, film director and environmental activist has been vegan for nearly 9 years. Cameron told Men’s Journal that he made the change explicitly to help save the planet, namely by lowering his carbon footprint.
10. Pamela Anderson, Baywatch star and animal advocate has been vegan for over 2 decades. She has notoriously been a postergirl for PETA along with a long list of other vegan and environmental advocacy campaigns.
11. Mike Tyson, former heavyweight boxing champion has been a vegan for 10 years since 2010. On Oprah’s: Where Are They Now Tyson stated that before the switch, he was “so congested from all the drugs and bad cocaine, I could hardly breathe, [I had] high blood pressure, [was] almost dying [and had arthritis],” but that turning vegan eliminated all these problems from his life.”
12. Usher, singer-songwriter-dancer has been vegan for 8 years since 2012. RadarOnline reported that after Usher’s dad died of a heart attack in 2008, Usher was determined to take charge of his fate with a healthier diet.
13. Carrie Underwood, country star has been vegan for 9 years since 2011. Underwood credits becoming a vegan as a result of growing up on a farm in Oklahoma and witnessing the slaughter of farm animals.
14. Emily Deschanel, actress, has been vegan since her teen years! Deschanel says the animals were always the driving factor behind her veganism.
15. Sia, singer and outspoken animal rights advocate has been vegan for 6 years since 2014. In 2014 Sia announced on Twitter that she was going “fully vegan.”
16. Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer has been vegan for 6 years since 2014. Dinklage was vegetarian for 15 years prior. In a PETA advertisement Dinklage said, “By buying meat, eggs, and dairy products, you’re paying for cruelty.” Dinklage states that his reason for initially becoming a vegetarian was because of his love for animals, but also for a girl.
17. Jessica Chastain, Golden-globe winner and Oscar-nominated actress best known for her roles in movies such as The Help, Zero Dark Thirty, Tree of Life and Interstellar has been vegan for 13 years since 2007. In a W Magazine interview Chastain shared that while she was a pescatarian for years and loved cheese, she went vegan because she was, “really low on energy.”
18. Jenna Dewan-Tatum, American actress and dancer has been a vegan since the age of 11. Jenna told Los Angeles Times that it was watching something on TV about slaughterhouses that convinced her.
19. RZA, American rapper, record producer, musician, actor, and director has been vegan for 25 years since 1995. In a Vegan Good Life interview RZA recalls his road to veganism stating, “I felt like an idiot – I would surely be able to come up with ideas of what to eat instead of dead meat? I thought to myself ‘I live, my flesh lives. Why would I want to eat something that’s dead?’ Starting from this day, I ate to live.”
20. Alicia Silverstone, American actress most well known for her role in the comedy classic Clueless has been vegan for 22 years since 1998. In an interview with Oprah Silverstone states, “I just took a look at my dog and said, ‘If I’m not willing to eat you, how can I continue to eat these other creatures that have the same desire to live, are just as funny, just as cute as my dogs?'”
21. Natalie Portman, actress and filmmaker has been vegan for 9 years since 2011. During a speech in front of a group of 16,000 students at WE Day Portman states, “When I read [Eating Animals], that was what made me become a vegan. I think until then, I had thought, “Oh, with eggs and dairy, you’re not killing animals. It’s just their natural byproducts.”
22. Erykah Badu, singer and actress has been vegan for 23 years since 1997. Badu told People, “It’s just what’s best for my body. If I was a Lamborghini I would want to put the best gas in it.”
23. Daryl Hannah, American actress and environmental activist has been vegan for just about 5 years. After being told that the calves that she was watching on a farm would be veal the next day Hannah was convinced that she no longer wanted to consume meat.
24. Ariana Grande, singer has been vegan for 7 years since 2013. On a Twitter post she credited the change to both her health and her love for animals.
25. Miley Cyrus, singer and animal lover has been a vegan for 6 years since 2014. Cyrus credits all of her pets as inspiration for the lifestyle change.
26. Woody Harrelson, Hunger Games star has been vegan for over 25 years. Harrelson told Esquire that he became vegan after a girl told him, “‘Hey, you’re lactose intolerant. If you quit dairy, all these symptoms you got will be gone in three days.’ I was like twenty-four. And I was like, No way. But three days later: gone,”
27. Cory Booker, American politician serving as the junior United States Senator from New Jersey since 2013 and a member of the Democratic Party has been vegan for 6 years since 2014. Booker told VegNews that he became vegan after he started doing research about the ways in which the environment and its inhabitants were impacted by animal consumption.
28. Jehina Malik, bodybuilder has been vegan since birth! Malik made history after being the first ever bodybuilder who has been vegan since birth to be awarded a Pro Card by IFBB.
29. James Cromwell, American actor, has been vegan for 25 years since 1995 after playing Farmer Hoggett in “Babe.” In an interview with TakePart Cromwell explains how he decided to become vegan. “I was doing a picture in Australia called ‘Babe,’ working with a lot of animals and animal trainers. I cared about their welfare and then, of course, you have lunch and it’s all there in front of you, and I thought, I should go the whole hog, so to speak. So I made that decision and kept that during the shooting.”
30. Alec Baldwin, American actor, writer, producer, comedian, and political activist has been vegan for 9 years since 2011. After being alarmed by his prediabetes diagnosis Baldwin decided on a vegan diet to reverse the course of his illness. We are proud to say that Baldwin was hugely successful.
Do you know of others outside of this list of 30 O.G. vegan celebrities who have been vegan 5+ years???
