Famous Vegetarian Celebrities

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Many celebrities have been vegetarians ever since their early years while others became vegetarian at some later stage of life, mainly in consideration of dieting, environmental activism, or adherence to various religious beliefs. Whereas the vegetarians usually consume dairy products and eggs, the vegans abstain from their use, and they are sometimes known as Non-dairy Vegetarians. They do not even consume the animal by-products like rennet or gelatin, and also abstain from using fur. Staunch vegans even do not use leather products. Religious beliefs like those of the Seventh-day Adventists and Hindus are the main factors behind the vegetarianism of a few celebrities. In a few cases, even the state laws encourage vegetarianism. For example, it is mandatory in India to declare the status on food labeling as a vegetarian diet  by indicating a prominent, green circle and non-vegan food by displaying a prominent, red circle on the food label. Not knowing about the production sources of products like gelatin and rennet, some vegetarians consume them unknowingly in the form of cheese or gelatin jellies. At times celebrities were prompted to be vegetarians in order to support some socio-economic cause.

1. Pamela Denise Anderson

Pamela Denise Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson

Pamela Denise Anderson was born to Barry and Carol Anderson in Lady Smith, British Columbia on July 1, 1967. She is a famous celebrity known for her roles in the TV series Baywatch, V.I.P. and Home Improvement. She was vegan since her teenage years when she saw her father’s hunting achievements. She is an active member of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. She was honored with the first Linda McCartney Memorial Award in appreciation of her contribution in supporting animal rights. In pursuance of her advertisement campaign ‘I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur’ she posed naked in a PETA’s social event in 2003. During her campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken, she stated in 2001, ‘What KFC does to 750 million chickens each year is not civilized or acceptable.’

2. Ellen Lee DeGeneres

Ellen Lee DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres

Ellen Lee DeGeneres was born to Elliott Everett and Elizabeth Jane DeGeneres in Metairie, Louisiana, U.S. on January 26, 1958. She received her early schooling at Grace King High School, Metairie, Louisiana, and graduated from Atlanta High School followed by her studies at the University of New Orleans. She is best known for hosting the famous talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She is an animal rights activist and lives in Beverly Hills with Portia de Rossi and both are vegan celebrities. She urged people to ‘start a new tradition by adopting a turkey instead of eating it.’ DeGeneres has won numerous awards including 13 Emmy Awards. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nominated her as Special Envoy for Global AIDS Awareness.

3. Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was born to Hermann Einstein and Pauline Einstein in Ulm, Kingdom of Wurttemberg, German Empire on March 14, 1879 and died in New Jersey, U.S. on April 18, 1955. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the Law of Photoelectric Effect. He was a genius and best known for his Theory of Relativity. Einstein had always been inclined towards being a vegetarian, but he said, ‘I have been prevented by outward circumstances from observing a strictly vegetarian diet.’ In the later stages of his life, he became a vegetarian and remarked ‘I have always eaten animal flesh with a somewhat guilty conscience’¦ It always seems to me that man was not born to be a carnivore.’

4. Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, better known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born to Karamchand Gandhi and Putlibai in Porbandar, Kathiawar Agency, British Indian Empire on  October 2, 1869 and died in New Delhi, Dominion of India on January 30, 1948. Known as the Father of the Nation, the Indian leader was a vegetarian. He was not a vegan as he consumed goat milk though abstained from using cow’s milk in spite of medical advice on account of his religious beliefs. He remarked about vegetarianism as ‘Spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.’ He liked to eat wheat, rice, cereals, and also consumed goat milk, seasonal fruits, and vegetables in their raw state.

5. Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall was born to Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall and Margaret Myfanwe Joseph in London, England on April 3, 1934. She is a famous primatologist and is considered the topmost expert on chimpanzees. For 45 years she studied wild chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream National Park of Tanzania. She is a devout vegetarian on account of health, ethical, and environmental reasons. Criticizing the hypocrisy over vegetarianism she said, ‘Thousands of people who say they ‘love’ animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been treated with so little respect and kindness just to make more meat.’

6. Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman was born to Shelley and Avner Hershlag in Jerusalem, Israel on June 9, 1981. She is a vegetarian since her early childhood and advocates animal rights. After going through Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals in 2009, she became a vegan. She abstains from eating meat and wearing fur, leather shoes, or even feathers. She said, ‘All my shoes are from Target and Stella McCartney.’ She traveled to Rawanda in 2007 to film the documentary Gorillas on the Brink. She won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Independent Spirit Award.

7. Alicia Silverstone

Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone

Alicia Silverstone was born to Deirdre and Monty Silverstone in San Francisco, California, U.S. on October 4, 1976. She received her early education at Crocker Middle School and San Mateo High School. She is a vegetarian, animal rights activist, and an environmental activist. Inspired by an animal rights meeting she became a vegan in 1998 and remarked ‘I realized that I was the problem’¦I was an animal lover who was eating animals.’ PETA named her the Sexiest Female Vegetarian in 2007. In 2009 she wrote a book The Kind Diet on vegan nutrition. In connection with the trial of Russian Band Pussy Riot in 2012, she wrote a letter to the Russian President asking the provision of vegan meals to all prisoners in Russia.

8. Stella Nina McCartney

Stella Nina McCartney
Stella Nina McCartney

Stella Nina McCartney was born to Sir Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney in Lambeth, London, England on September 13, 1971. She is a famous fashion designer and environmental activist. She is a vegetarian and does not use any fur or leather in her designs. At times her designs bear some pro-vegetarianism or animal rights supporting texts on her designs. One of Adidas’ jackets bears the text; ‘Suitable for Sporty Vegetarians.’ She designed Madonna’s wedding dress in 2000. She launched her first perfume Stella in 2003.

9. Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born to Anne-Marie and Louis Bardot in Paris on September 28, 1934. She is a famous animal rights activist known for her opposing horse meat consumption and seal hunting in Canada. She founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986 and raised three million francs by selling her personal belongings to fund it. In 1999 she wrote a letter to the Chinese Prime Minister Jiang Zemin expressing her concerns over ‘torturing bears and killing the world’s last tigers and rhinos to make aphrodisiacs.’ She wrote a letter to the Queen of Denmark in 2010 appealing to her to stop dolphin killing describing it as a mass slaughter.

10. Dr. J. H. Kellogg

Dr. J. H. Kellogg
Dr. J. H. Kellogg

Dr. J. H. Kellogg was born to John Preston Kellogg and Ann Janette Stanley in Tyrone, Michigan, U.S. on February 26, 1852 and died in Battle Creek, Michigan on December 14, 1943 at the age of 91. He is best remembered as a vegetarian advocate. He was a Seventh-day Adventist and, as such, believed in consuming a vegetarian diet and abstaining from the use of tobacco and alcohol. He said, ‘When we eat vegetarian food, we don’t have to worry about what kind of disease the food died of. This makes a joyful meal.’ He is also renowned for developing Corn Flakes, peanut butter making process, and producing the nutritious Granose biscuits.

Conclusion:

Animal rights activists consider the consumption of meat as cruelty, therefore, advocate vegetarianism. Environmentalists favor it in consideration for protecting biodiversity and take it as the only sustainable mode of food consumption. Scientists generally opine that plant sources yield all the essential constituents of foods including proteins, vitamins, and minerals. And as far as religious beliefs are concerned, they don’t need a justification for vegetarianism.

 

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