Brett Goldstein has said being one of the few actors with a hairy chest in Hollywood helped him bag a gig as a Marvel superhero. Speaking to Men's Health UK he joked: "I only realised when I first went to LA what an anomaly I was. When I first went in a rooftop pool, I think someone called pest control!"
Marvel Casting and Chest Hair
Referring to his brief role as Greek demigod Hercules in Thor: Love and Thunder, he added: "Also, Marvel didn’t have any issue with it. It’s probably why they cast me – the chest hair."
The 46-year-old, who plays grumpy footballer Roy Kent in the Apple TV show, says being part of the show altered his outlook as he spoke about what it’s like to be one of the last few lead male actors with chest hair. He gave fans a look at what's underneath the AFC Richmond shirt as he hit the weights for a new Men's Health photoshoot, flaunting his ripped physique.
Depression Before Ted Lasso
British star Brett also revealed he was "so, so depressed” prior to Ted Lasso, and his therapist's idea to write a gratitude journal helped change his mindset. Prior to the success of the show, Brett said he struggled with his mental health and saw a therapist who encouraged him to write in a journal of thankfulness and appreciation, where he had to list at least 10 things he was most grateful for.
Speaking to the publication, he said: “I was depressed. Every day she [the therapist] made me write a list of 10 things that happened that day that I was grateful for. “In the beginning, when you’re so, so depressed, it’s like, ‘Nothing’. But you have to put 10 in. ‘The sun was up.’ That’s one. You start so small.
"But by day 30 of doing that, you’ve started training your brain to look for the positive, and I could write a list of 100 things. I’m the luckiest guy in the world! Everything’s f****** amazing!"
Gratitude and Mental Health
Weeks into journaling, Brett said he felt a noticeable shift in the way he perceived the world and that despite still having “darker days”, being able to appreciate the smaller moments in life continues to help. He said: “It really had changed me, built new synapses, whatever it is. You can look for the good. It’s a f****** skill – or, something you have to work at. I don’t always achieve it. I still have darker days. But gratitude helps.”
Playing sweary Roy on the feel-good show helped keep him on the right mental path and he said although he was not raised in a household where people said you should not show your emotions, he still felt the pressures of masculinity and holding things in. He said: “I definitely grew up with the feelings of, ‘Men aren’t supposed to show emotions.’ But then I got older, and my experience with women was whenever I was accidentally vulnerable it went very well.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I’ve been learning the wrong lessons.’ My trainer in New York, he was a professional bodybuilder and there are pictures of him on the wall in amazing shape. He said, ‘Men love it. Women hate it.’ “There are all these things where I think most people don’t know what they’re doing, they have been behaving how they think they’re meant to behave.”
He earned millions of fans across the world as he brought player-turned-assistant coach Roy to life, and the hard-to-please midfielder is back as he chases love after replacing Ted as the Greyhounds' manager. The show was an instant success when it first hit screens in 2020 and earned the most Emmy nominations ever received by a first-season comedy – with Goldstein winning the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy in 2021 and 2022. The full interview with Brett Goldstein can be read in the September issue of Men’s Health UK, on sale now.
