I don't really watch a lot of wrestling, or even movies for that matter, but I am very familiar with who Dave Bautista is and how he is one of the few wrestlers who followed in The Rock's footprints and actually ended up making it in movies and series.
Lately, I saw some articles how people were picking on the guy for losing so much weight and looking "sick" and since I know a lot of people who transitioned away from steroids and bulking for health reasons and they are a lot better off because of it. I believe that Dave has gone through the same thing and I hope he is able to shrug off the criticism and keep doing what makes him feel healthy.
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Dave doesn't talk about steroids very often but I don't need to see his blood test results from 15 years ago to know that the guy was definitely juicing. You simply cannot get this sort of physique without the stuff and anyone that says otherwise is lying to you. It is well known in the bodybuilding circuits (where Dave got his start) that basically everyone is on the sauce and that is just the way it is. There are now competitions that are separate for "natty" and "enhanced" bodybuilders and while nothing is enforced, the interior workings of the competitors keeps the users out of the natural categories. It would be severely frowned upon if someone that was juicing were to enter the natty category.
Anyway, Dave kept his PED cycle going after WWE, in fact he probably increased it when he was first trying to break into Hollywood because let's be honest here, he didn't get the job because of his Oscar-winning performances.
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Recently though, I saw a couple of films that Dave was in where he kept his shirt on and I was actually kind of impressed about how he actually has some sort of acting chops now so perhaps he doesn't need to be super-muscle-guy anymore and instead can focus on his own health combined with the ability to get into roles because he can actually act as well. I don't know for sure, but the bottom line is that when Dave decided to stop using (he never did announce this publicly, it is just obvious) the paparazzi and a lot of people in the toxic online communities tried to make it out that he looked horrible and sick.
It probably didn't help that he made some pretty terrible wardrobe choices for the red carpets but in an interview he stated that he lost 75 lbs of muscle after a role where he was asked to bulk up in order to enjoy being able to "move better." I can imagine what it is like to have so much muscle stacked up that you struggle with movement and I am sure that there are not many people on the planet that actually know what this is like.
But for me, someone that has friends who have severely injured themselves by taking the shortcuts that steroids offer, I applaud Dave's decision to step off of them. Hell, even steroid patient zero Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about the dangers of steroids these days and there is a good chance the the main reason that he hasn't suffered any obvious ill-after-effects of years of use is because he is extremely wealthy and can afford to go through the doctor visits and afford all the therapy that is necessary to not be in constant pain.
There are many many others who do not have these resources including my friend who after juicing for just a few years, came off the stuff, and now has constant back problems that are just a part of his everyday life now.
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While it is impossible to really tell what a celebrity is like, Dave seems like a decent guy and I don't like that people are coming down on him for changing his life for the better. Dave has never admitted or talked about steroid use outside of injury-recovery that I can find, but come on now, we all know the score here.
I say just let the guy live because in the end the individual knows better than anyone else what feels "right" for their own life because Dave is the one that has to live in his own skin after the cameras have been switched off. Will he be able to maintain his position in blockbuster films without the muscle? Honestly, I don't think so. But for me, if I had as much money as he does and had to make a choice between feeling good or continuing to get big movie roles (most of which are in films that flop anyway) I would definitely take the health option.
What about you?