40 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Vegan
40 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Vegan
Choosing to go vegan is a huge decision—one that comes with a slew of health pros and cons. But these days, plant-based eating is becoming more and more popular, and now, plenty of celebrities are switching to vegan diets.
As a refresher, vegans do not eat anything produced by an animal or with animal byproducts, including eggs, dairy, meat, and honey. Instead, plants make up 100% of vegans’ meals. Some vegans also avoid wearing clothing or using products made from or with animals. Vegan diets can bring plenty of health benefits including weight loss, according to researchers.
In fact, 9.7 million Americans are now vegan, according to a 2019 survey. Tons of celebrities are included in that figure—some recently, and some who have long promoted the plant-based diet. Many, like Lizzo and Michelle Pfeiffer, were motivated by health reasons. Others, like James Cameron and Sadie Sink, cite environmental factors. And plenty, like Joaquin Phoenix and Ruby Rose, are guided by animal rights. But all vegan celebrities can agree on one thing: Plants taste pretty darn good!
Hoping to finally make the switch to a vegan lifestyle? Here, celebrities share why they opt for plant-based eating, plus the amazing benefits that they’ve noticed since swearing off animal products. Suddenly, your choice doesn’t seem so difficult anymore—it might even be the huge change you’ve been waiting for.
And while you’re here, why not check out some delicious vegan recipes, too, like farro risotto, red lentil hummus, and blueberry smoothie bowls? After all, it’s never too early to get started!
Ellen Pompeo
Being vegan is “super-fun,” the Grey’s Anatomy star told People in 2018, soon after she started the lifestyle. “I don’t think it’s tricky at all—it’s actually easier, because meat, you have to cook it before it goes bad. Grains and lentils and rice and beans, everything’s in the pantry already. You just have to get vegetables, but vegetables stay good for a week—and I think we all feel better.”
Natalie Portman
“I’m vegan, so I generally have a very clean diet; I usually have oatmeal or avocado toast in the morning,” Portman told Harper’s Bazaar in 2017. “Lots of people make fun of anybody who cares about anything deeply, right? But I’m here to say it is always a great thing to care … Whether it’s environmental issues, animal rights, women’s rights, equality, never be afraid to show how much you care,” she told a group of students during a speech per PETA.
Venus Williams
Yep, one of the world’s most accomplished athletes is plant-based. “I started eating raw and vegan for health reasons,” Williams told Women’s Health in 2020. “I needed to fuel my body in the best way possible.” However, she’s not super-strict: “I try to make the majority of my meals raw and vegan, but I’m only human, and am known to cheat a little bit. I joke that I’m a ‘chegan’ because sometimes I’ve been known to stray.”
Joaquin Phoenix
Phoenix vividly remembers the moment he decided to go vegan at age 3, when he and his siblings saw fish being caught and killed. “It was clear to us, from a very young age, that what was happening was an injustice. It was an exploitation, a violence—an unnecessary violence,” he told VegNews in 2020. “When we were younger and we went vegan, it really wasn’t about health. ... It was really just about compassion. But now we’re becoming aware of the impact our consumption is having on the entire planet. And so it no longer feels like simply just a personal choice.”
Michelle Pfeiffer
“Eating a vegan diet, it’s just so much healthier, and you avoid a lot of toxins that could age your skin and your body,” Pfeiffer told Urbanette. “I really noticed a difference in my skin not too long after switching to fully vegan. And I needed to eat the fruits and vegetables to stay lean. It’s all about vanity, honestly.”
Mayim Bialik
The Big Bang Theory star became a vegan at 19 and even wrote an entire cookbook of plant-based recipes. She’s raising her kids to be vegan, too. “I also tell my children that it is worthwhile to make sacrifices for a greater good,” Bialik said in a 2019 YouTube video. “I don’t know if my children will always be vegan … but what I hope I have instilled in them is an appreciation for reflection, for sacrifice and for ethical standards above what’s trendy or what's commonplace.”
Ariana Grande
“I love animals more than I love most people, not kidding,” Grande told The Mirror in 2014, soon after she became fully vegan. “But I am a firm believer in eating a full plant-based, whole-food diet that can expand your life length and make you an all-round happier person. It is tricky dining out, but I just stick to what I know—veggies, fruit, and salad—then, when I get home, I’ll have something else.”
Stevie Wonder
The legendary musician went vegan in 2014. “We have to be about making our planet more greener, the urban areas more sustainable for the children,” Wonder told AOL in 2016. “We can’t just talk about it, we have to be about it. ... I’m motivating people to do something about how we are living on this planet.”
Jessica Chastain
“I found myself going to veganism because a friend of mine had a two week vegan food delivery program she wasn’t going to use, so I used it, and immediately I just had more energy than I’ve ever had in my life,” Chastain told W in 2017. “I said, ‘OK, I’m going to just listen to my body now.’ Being vegan was not anything I ever wanted to be. I just really was listening to what my body was telling me.”
Rosario Dawson
“I’m mostly vegan and raw these days for my health and peace of mind,” the Dopesick star told People in 2019. “I rest better, I feel better, with less inflammation and more flexibility. I feel full without feeling uncomfortable or tired afterwards. I love the energy.”
Jenna Dewan
“I also choose to eat plant-based foods because not only is it healthy and yummy, but I feel ethically right,” Dewan told People in 2018. “We have become so off-balance with our animal consumption. Even one meatless meal a week helps!”
Lizzo
The “Good as Hell” singer went vegan in June 2020 and documented her journey on TikTok. “As a new vegan, I’m enjoying exploring flavors from plants and plant-based proteins!” she captioned one of her videos. “Every journey is personal and deserves to be celebrated.”
will.i.am
In a 2018 Instagram video, former Black Eyed Peas musician will.i.am called vegans “a group of people taking a hardcore gangster approach to wellness and [conscious] living.” He continued, “What I buy and buy into [affects] not only me, but the environment and all living things.”
Woody Harrelson
Harrelson is a noted vegan evangelist. “I eat vegan, but I eat mostly raw,” The Hunger Games actor told InStyle in 2018. “If I have a cooked meal, I feel my energy drop. So when I first started shifting my diet, it wasn’t as much a moral or an ethical pursuit but an energetic pursuit.”
Thandiwe Newton
Speaking of Harrelson, the actor convinced his Solo costar Newton to go plant-based. “I think it’s good to have a vegan in the mix, a vegan in a position of power. I have been vegan since working with Woody,” Newton said in 2018. “It hasn’t done anything to my brain. I’m absolutely fine,” she finished with a laugh.
Billie Eilish
After eating vegetarian for ages, Eilish finally went vegan for animal rights reasons seven years ago. “Once you know that kind of thing and you see it, it's really hard to go back,” the pop star told British Vogue in May. “I don’t ever want to tell anybody what to do, [but] I just can’t go on in my life knowing what’s going on in the animal world and, like, not doing anything about it.”
Benedict Cumberbatch
Marvel’s Doctor Strange relied on vegan protein to bulk up before becoming a superhero. He calls his diet plant-based because he’ll still wear clothes made from animals, but Cumberbatch is strict about eating vegan foods.
Nathalie Emmanuel
When the Game of Thrones and F9 star went vegan for a week, she told Women’s Health, she slept better, woke up more easily, and even got compliments on how bright she looked. “Then I did it for two weeks and felt even more energized,” she recalled. “And then I was like, ‘That’s it; I’m going for a month!’” After lapsing and instantly feeling worse, Emmanuel has now been vegan for eight years.
Jason Mraz
“I ride longer distances on my bike, can do more pull-ups than ever, and my brain seems to have a larger capacity for new projects, problem-solving, songwriting, and fielding random questions,” Mraz wrote about becoming a mostly raw vegan. (He owns an avocado farm, so plant-based eating seems right for him.)
Sadie Sink
The Stranger Things star described herself as “a passionate vegan” to Just Jared in 2017. She shares one similarity with fellow vegan Thandiwe Newton: Woody Harrelson also convinced Sink to go plant-based. “I realized what goes on in the egg industry and the dairy industry, so then I was like, ‘That’s it! Going vegan!’ and I just kind of went cold turkey, basically,” she told Elle UK in 2018.
Daryl Hannah
The Splash actress hasn’t eaten meat since she was 11 years old, when she met calves that were on their way to be slaughtered. “I mean, I really liked the taste of meat,” Hannah, a longtime vegan activist, recalled in a 2012 Q&A, “but I literally lost the ability to disassociate what was on my plate from the creature that it had been.”
Jared Leto
The House of Gucci actor and 30 Second to Mars frontman has long avoided animal products. “I’m actually a chegan,” Leto told Rolling Stone in 2016, “a cheating vegan. I don’t eat meat ever. But if someone’s mom made a cookie and handed it to me, I’d probably take a bite, or if I’m in Alaska and there’s wild salmon out of the river, I’d probably eat it.”
Pamela Anderson
A longtime advocate of plant-based eating, the Baywatch and Barb Wire star is passionate about the possibilities of vegan living. “Veganism is about more than choosing not to eat animal products,” she wrote on her site. “Veganism is bigger than that. Veganism is about saving animals, saving ourselves, saving our societies, and saving our planet!”
Alicia Silverstone
“I don’t miss my old lifestyle one bit. It’s like I’ve found this magical secret—except it’s no secret—that keeps me feeling both nourished and satisfied,” the Clueless actress told Food & Wine in 2014. “I adopted this diet for the animals, but the biggest surprise was how amazing I felt! … This way of eating transformed me.”
Kyrie Irving
Brooklyn Nets basketball player Kyrie Irving has long followed a plant-based diet, crediting it with giving him higher stamina. “Been on more of a plant-based diet, getting away from the animals and all that,” he said on ESPN in 2017. “My energy is up; my body feels amazing.”
Erykah Badu
Soul icon Erykah Badu has eaten a vegan diet since 1997. “I wouldn’t call myself a vegan because I don’t subscribe to any type of organizations. It’s just what’s best for my body. If I was a Lamborghini I would want to put the best gas in it,” she told People in 2016. “I eat raw, mostly kale salad, avocados, fruits, vegetables and alkaline water.”
Elliot Page
Dubbed one of PETA’s sexiest vegans alive in 2014, Page approaches veganism from an animal rights standpoint: “Why are vegans made fun of while the inhumane factory farming process regards animals and the natural world merely as commodities to be exploited for profit?” he tweeted in 2011.
Emily Deschanel
The Bones actress became vegan after meeting farm animals, she said in 2015—and she’s even more committed to the cause for its environmental benefits. “I love to drink green juices and eat lots of salads. I also like to make a habit of eating as many different colors of vegetables as I can. As for treats, of course, there’s fruit, and you can even get vegan chocolate.”
Rooney Mara
Mara, who is partnered with fellow vegan Joaquin Phoenix, calls herself an “ethical vegan.” She became a vegetarian at 9, then switched to a plant-based lifestyle in 2011. “Someone sent me this horrible undercover video of a pig, which led me to another horrible video and another horrible video,” the Carol actress told Coveteur in 2018. “I went down the YouTube rabbit hole.”
Alan Cumming
“I just don’t like meat,” The Good Wife actor told Vegetarian Times in 2011. “Rotten carcasses don’t feel good inside my body. I’ve also seen some horrible documentaries about the hormones and things that go into meat. On a health level, meat is so scary. I used to eat fish, but with fish there’s that mercury awfulness.”
Bellamy Young
“For me it was the answer to a myriad of things that weren’t working in my life,” the Scandal star and longtime vegan told YouBeauty in 2015. “I had terrible cystic acne, no energy at all, I didn’t always digest food perfectly. … I’ve just been lucky that my body and my heart were in line.”
Olivia Wilde
After becoming a vegan at 12, Wilde has switched back and forth between veganism and vegetarianism for the past few years. “[Being vegan] is not always easy and accessible, but it’s a way of life and makes me as a person feel really good and physically look better," she told HuffPost.
RZA
The Wu-Tang Clan legend has been vegan for over 20 years—and he’s never looked back. “No animal needs to die for me to live, OK?” RZA said on the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience in 2019. His two sons are also completely vegan. “I look at my household as a living example that you don’t need that to live.”
Jerome Flynn
Besides starring on Game of Thrones, Flynn has spent the past few years advocating for veganism. “If we’re true to our own values, can we really justify inflicting all this suffering and violence on these emotionally sensitive, smart individuals just for a fleeting moment of taste?” he asked in a PETA campaign.
Gisele Bündchen
The supermodel and her family follow a mostly plant-based diet. “We all love it,” Bündchen told People in 2017. “It’s not only good for our health and makes us feel good, but it is also good for the planet!”
Ruby Rose
“I used to get something called shark fin soup,” the Batwoman star recalled on the show Shark After Dark. “I said to my mom, ‘Wait, is this made out of an actual shark’s fin?’ and she was like, ‘Oh no, darling, of course not.’” But it was—and Rose was plagued by nightmares that convinced her to go vegan.
James Cameron
“The great thing about this as a solution for climate change—one of a number of solutions that we need—is that it’s a win-win. You’re going to be healthier, you’re going to live longer, you’re going to look better,” the Titanic and Avatar director told Men’s Journal in 2015.
Heather Rae El Moussa
The Selling Sunset star has been eating vegan for 12 years now, and like many other celebrities on this list, she’s motivated by animal rights. (El Moussa even had a vegan cake at her recent wedding.) “Just try it,” she told PETA. “You’ll love it, and you’ll feel a lot better.”
Travis Barker
When the Blink-182 drummer survived a terrifying plane crash in 2008, he promised himself he’d go vegan. “Honestly, ever since I found this way of eating, I have endless amounts of energy,” Barker told Men’s Journal. “I can go all day, and after it all I never find myself getting tired. No matter what kind of shows I have done, or workouts I do on top of it, I still have to force myself to sleep at night.”
Portia de Rossi
“Steak and burgers weren’t an everyday meal, but I definitely accepted meat as a necessary part of life,” de Rossi wrote in 2012—until she moved to a farm with her wife, Ellen DeGeneres. “Over the next year, I stopped eating all animals and animal products. I always thought going vegan would be difficult, but I genuinely don't crave meat or cheese. And I feel happier, like I'm contributing to making the world a less violent place.”
These 40 vegan celebrities say that going plant-based has improved their lives. Find out specifics on why they decided to change their diet.