Christian Bale considered steroids

Friday, 8 May 2009

Christian Bale was "tempted" to take steroids.

The actor considered experimenting with the substances when he was trying to build up his physique for roles in 'Batman Begins' and 'American Psycho'.

He admitted: "I was lifting really heavy weights that I could never dream of lifting now and probably never will again.

"A number of people have said, 'You could never have done that without some kind of steroids.' Not to say I wasn't tempted.

"When I was getting ready for 'American Psycho' I'd never been in a gym in my life and I was working out like crazy, so I thought, 'Maybe it ain't such a big deal, just take some 'roids' and I can speed up this whole process.' "

Christian was deterred from taking the drugs after being warned of potential side effects.

He explained: "I called up the store where they're selling that sort of stuff and asked, 'Have you used it? And side effects?' 'No no. I mean, really minimal. Your balls might shrink and you might get acne.' I'm like, there's no way in hell I'm going to touch anything like that and damn those who think I did."

While he shunned illegal substances to transform his appearance, Christian did undergo cosmetic dental work - which he still regrets.

He added to Esquire magazine: "When I did 'American Psycho' I did fix my very English teeth, which I miss dearly. But Bateman couldn't have had the teeth I had. I kept a mould of my old ones because I did like them and knew I'd miss them."