Eastwood has never wanted to “check out” of life early. In a throwback interview with GQ before he turned 80, he said: “I’m not one of these guys who want to check out early. But when you check out, it’s when you’re supposed to check out. You know, I take care of myself.” The star has remained active even into his 90s. His latest film, Cry Macho – which he directed and starred in, was released in 2021.
One of the things that spurred the actor on to looking after himself was a tragedy.
Eastwood lost his father at 63 to a fatal heart attack, which he admitted to Closer magazine “hit like a tonne of bricks”. After this incident, he became focused on good health.
In the GQ interview, the star suggested his diet was nothing special but emphasised that he was careful about what he consumed. He also credited good genetics for helping him avoid putting on weight.
“The only thing special about it [the diet] is I just try to watch the intake of saturated fats. I was blessed with a reasonable system that just never put on a lot of weight, so I always took advantage of that,” he said.
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“I always thought beer and a couple other things were about as good as I wanted to know about….
He also never shied away from alternative approaches to his health, embracing the practice of transcendental meditation.
Transcendental meditation is a quiet meditation where you focus on breathing for 10 to 20 minutes while listening to a mantra sound.
It has been used widely among celebrities such as Ted Danson and Katy Perry.
About his practice, Eastwood told GQ: “I visualize whole sequences in the morning, before I go. I believe in whatever self-help you can give yourself, whether you believe in Buddha or whatever. I used to be much more of an agnostic. I’m not really a person of an organized religion. But I’m now much more tolerant of people who are religious because I can see why they got there. I can sympathize.”
Meditation can help to reduce stress levels by creating a state of relaxation. It helps to eliminate the negative thoughts crowding your mind that might be causing stress.
Stress itself is linked to cardiovascular problems. It’s known to increase your heart rate and cause high blood pressure.
