Former Disney Channel star David DeLuise couldn’t believe his good fortune when he recognized Hollywood legend John Goodman at the grocery store, stopping the Emmy winner for a selfie, which he posted on August 6, 2026.
Fans and friends were thrilled DeLuise, 54, got to meet Goodman, 74, but many were also amazed he recognized Goodman in the first place. The actor has lost over 200 pounds in recent years, transforming from playing the notoriously heavy-set dad on “Roseanne” from 1988 to 1996, to the much slimmer Dr. Eli Gemstone on HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones” from 2019 to 2025.
Fans Can’t Believe John Goodman is ‘So Skinny’ in New Selfie
DeLuise, best known for Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place,” snapped the selfie while holding a carton of eggs in his other hand, and wrote of Goodman in his Instagram caption, “He was my childhood !! ❤️ Legend ! I love that I get to say that to someone 😉 if you know you know.”
Over 20,000 people liked the post, and many expressed in the comment section how thrilled they were for DeLuise, including fellow actor Adrian Pasdar, who wrote, “Holy cow man. The fact that he gets to stand next to you? Priceless. Of course I’m half kidding. The fact that you get to be in the same air, he breathes is even more miraculous. So there’s that.”
Although Goodman has slowly slimmed down over many years, DeLuise heard from fans who were floored by how different the actor looks today, calling “The Big Lebowski” star “unrecognizable” and writing comments like, “That ain’t who I think it is?😢”
Countless fans specifically mentioned Goodman’s weight loss, including one who wrote, “The best back then! He’s so skinny!!! ❤️” and another who commented, “Dude lost some weight”
Someone else cheered on Goodman’s transformation by writing, “He’s so much skinnier than I remember seeing him! 👏😍”
John Goodman Has Been Slowly Shedding Pounds Since 2007
GettyGoodman, who has also voiced many animated projects including playing gentle giant James P. “Sulley” Sullivan in Disney’s “Monsters, Inc.” movies, has been on a decades-long weight loss journey, which began with his decision to get sober.
In 2010, he told People he’d lost 100 pounds after stopping drinking three years earlier, hiring a trainer, and cutting sugar out of his diet.
“I know it sounds sappy, but it was a waste,” he told the outlet at the time. “It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your ass and figure out what you’re going to eat next … I wanted to live life better.”
In 2023, Goodman told Rolling Stone he was continuing to shed pounds by moving his body, from walking his dogs to taking up boxing.
“I never got good enough where I would trust myself to spar because once I get whacked in the face, I don’t know if I wouldn’t lose it,” Goodman said of his boxing skills. “But someday I’d like to get that far advanced. But it’s usually just an hour or an hour and a half of hitting the mitts, hitting the bags, learning footwork. It’s great.”
