Hollywood actor Tom Hanks has revealed he has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, after suffering symptoms for more than 20 years.
“I went to the doctor and he said, ‘You know those high blood sugar numbers you’ve been dealing with since you were 36? Well, you’ve graduated. You’ve got type 2 diabetes, young man,’” he told David Letterman on his talk show.
The 57-year-old says his condition is possibly due to the weight fluctuations he has experienced throughout his career for different movie roles.
Back in 1992 Tom gained 15kg to play a baseball coach in A League Of Their Own. Then in 2000, he lost 25kg for his role in Cast Away to portray his character, who was stuck on a desert island.
The Oscar-winning actor decided to share the news after David commented on how trim he was looking these days.
Tom says he’s in better shape now than he’s been for a long time and was controlling the symptoms by controlling his weight.
“It’s controllable. Something’s going to kill us all, Dave. My doctor said, ‘If you can weigh as much as you weighed in high school you’ll essentially be completely healthy and won’t have type 2 diabetes. I said ‘Well, I’m gonna have type 2 diabetes because there’s no way I can weigh as much as I did in high school,’” he said.
Tom is currently promoting his latest movie, Captain Phillips, for which he has received a lot of Oscar buzz.