Vegetarian Celebrities Opt for Cruelty-Free Living
By: Michael Russell
As it turns out, some of your favorite celebrities may also be vegetarians. Pamela Anderson, Paul McCartney, Alicia Silverstone, Moby and Andre 3000 of Outkast are among the many vegetarian celebrities who decided to stop eating meat because of the harm that factory farming does to animals, our health and the planet.
Former Beatle Paul McCartney said he was first turned on to animal rights as a child. Disney movies like Bambi and Dumbo instilled in him a belief that animal cruelty is a bad idea. He once said, “If you think of Bambi, its mum gets killed by a hunter and I think that made me grow up thinking hunting isn’t cool”.
McCartney decided to finally make the move to vegetarianism when he and his wife Linda were eating a meal of lamb and happened to see lambs frolicking in a field. This experience helped him make the connection between the food on his plate and living, sentient animals.
Supermodel and former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson has been a vegetarian since the age of 16. In high school, she used to donate rolls of quarters to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the popular nonprofit animal rights organization. Since then this vegetarian celebrity has become an outspoken activist for PETA, participating in many of their campaigns including ones against fur, seal hunting and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Alicia Silverstone, the young actress who made her debut in the movie Clueless, went vegan in 1998 for moral and political reasons. She once said to talk show host Rosie O’Donnell that she went vegan because she “was not going to contribute to the violence in the world anymore”. She said that going vegan meant putting food back into the mouths of starving children, since crops grown to feed cows could otherwise be used to feed villages.
Silverstone also has her own vegetable garden, where she grows vegetables like lettuce, kale and pumpkins. “To make your salad from your own garden is just amazing”, she once said to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
Singer Moby first exposed his veganism in an angsty punk rock album titled Animal Rights, arguably the most controversial album of his career. Since then, he has taken a more utilitarian approach in order to make his message more accessible to the masses.
Moby encourages vegetarians and vegans to become salesmen for what they believe. He himself does this by aggressively championing vegetarianism in the public eye. Moby also promotes vegetarianism in his vegetarian tea shop, Teany.
Outkast star Andre 3000 is also a vegetarian celebrity. In 2004, he won PETA’s award for Sexiest Male Vegetarian. When Andre was asked what he would do on his last day on Earth, he said, “I’d probably go for a great meal-some broccoli probably, because I’m a vegetarian”.
Other notable vegetarian celebrities include Coldplay’s Steve Martin, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Avril Lavigne, Fall Out Boy’s Andy Hurley, Natalie Portman, Good Charlotte’s Benji and Joel Madden, Alec Baldwin, Anne Hathaway, Joaquin Phoenix, Tobey Maguire, Shania Twain and Weird Al Yankovic.
Michael Russell
Your Independent Vegetarian guide.