Taron Egerton says he felt 'invincible' and 'beautiful for the first time' after getting 'ripped' for Kingsman but 'gained so much weight' after filming

Taron Egerton has revealed he 'felt beautiful for the first time' after getting in shape for the Kingsman franchise but gained 'so much weight' after filming. 

The actor, 36, appeared on the Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard podcast, where he said he felt 'invincible' after 'getting ripped' for 2014's Kingsman: The Secret Service and 2017's Kingsman: The Golden Circle, where he played Gary "Eggsy" Unwin.

He has spoken in the past about his body issues, saying he was a heavier teenager, which led to his joy over his successful transformation. 

Taron said: 'I was in incredible shape for that movie. And it was the most, I felt, I think for the first time in my life, I felt really beautiful. Yeah...

'It was completely intoxicating. And I was like, Oh my God, I am ripped. I've got this jaw. I mean, the hair was starting to go, but I had enough and I felt invincible.'

Taron featured in a number of shirtless scenes in the movies, in which he showcased his buff body – in stark contrast to the figure he grew up with. 

He admitted that he 'went the other way' with his fitness after the movie wrapped: 'And when we finished the movie, I just went bang the other way and I gained so much weight. And that, that was really, really has been a feature of my adult life...

'Um, it's in my thirties, I've, I've kind of got a handle on it, but in my twenties, I never really felt like, you know, I never really felt like the movie, I never felt like, well, now I can go out and enjoy this, you know, because I didn't feel camera ready ever.'

Taron then discussed his image in Netflix movie Apex, which came out in April. 

He revealed that he 'starved himself' to achieve his look in the movie, in which he starred opposite Charlize Theron and is frequently shirtless. 

Taron admitted he yearns for that look before remembering what it takes to achieve, saying: 'Every day I punish myself for not looking like that. But the truth of the matter is that I starved myself. I was running myself absolutely ragged to get there.'

Elsewhere in the interview, Taron gave a rare insight into his family life as he shed light on his irreparable feelings towards his father David. 

David, a Liverpudlian bed-and-breakfast owner and musician, split from Taron's social worker mother Christine when Taron was two, leading to the star being moved with his mother from his birthplace of Merseyside to Anglesey in Wales. 

Despite admitting he was 'reluctant' to discuss the issue, he confessed: 'So there was a point where I pushed the ejector seat and haven't seen him since.'

He stated that their relationship 'doesn't work': 'I'm reluctant to talk in too much detail about him because he's, you know, living his own life and doing his own thing and I'll always love him. I just don't think we work very well in terms of our relationship.' 

While his relationship with David is in tatters, he admitted in the interview that he saw his Kingsman co-star Colin Firth as a 'fatherly figure'. 

He admitted that while filming the movies, he admitted that while filming leading director Matthew Vaughn threatened to axe him from the movie due to his hard-partying in the wake of his first ever break-up. 

He said: 'I broke up with my first girlfriend and I was like really aggressively partying to deal with it and was coming in, in like a bad way...

'And, you know, I remember there were a couple of days on Kingsman where Matt was like, you're going home. I can't film you today.'

Taron admitted that it was Colin who helped him in a 'fatherly' fashion. He said: 'Colin was amazing. He was never anything other than kind of gentle and fatherly and understanding... He was always, he was always lovely to me...