John Goodman, 74, was nearly unrecognizable in a photo shared to Instagram on Thursday, August 6.
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In the smiling shot, shared by Wizards of Waverly Place star David DeLuise, Goodman sported a seriously trimmed-down figure as he flashed a grin for the camera in the supermarket selfie.
The photo was even more surprising as Goodman famously avoids social media.
Former Disney Channel star David DeLuise couldn’t believe his good fortune when he recognized Hollywood legend John Goodman at the grocery store, stopping the Emmy winner for a selfie, which he posted on August 6.
“He was my childhood!! ❤️ Legend!,” DeLuise, 54, captioned the August 6 post.
“I love that I get to say that to someone 😉 if you know you know.”
In just 20 hours, the post became one of DeLuise’s most popular, with over 30,000 likes.
Fans quickly responded to the snapshot, sharing that at first they didn’t recognize Goodman. Others flooded the comments section with praise, calling the iconic actor an inspiration and celebrating his impressive health transformation.
“Is that John Goodman???? David DeLuise, he’s unrecognizable.”
“John Goodman is still looking good. He’s been working on his health for years, and good for him!”
Another commenter expressed awe at the encounter itself.
“Holy cow man. The fact that he gets to stand next to you? Priceless. Of course I’m half kidding. The fact that you get to be in the same air, he breathes is even more miraculous. So there’s that.”
“John Goodman is a living legend,” another fan added.
Still another comment focused on his transformation.
“He’s so much skinnier than I remember seeing him!”
Goodman, who played family patriarch Dan Conner on Roseanne — which ran from 1988 to 1997 — weighed almost 400 pounds during the sitcom, with his weight and stature often the punchline on the family-friendly television series.
His transformation has been remarkable.
Legendary actor John Goodman has lost 200 pounds since 2007.
At his heaviest Goodman is believed to have weighed around 392 pounds.
Goodman started his weight loss journey in 2007 because he wanted to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
The turning point came through sobriety.
Goodman has also been open about his struggle with alcoholism – after 30 years of battling the addiction, he became sober in 2007.
In the viral moment that sparked his weight-loss transformation, Goodman struggled with the reality of his reflection.
“I just got tired, sick and tired of looking at myself,” Goodman said. “You’re shaving in the mirror, and you don’t want to look at yourself.”
It gets dangerous.
“It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your ass and figure out what you’re going to eat next … I wanted to live life better,” he said in a 2010 People interview.
But success required more than just willpower.
At the start of his journey, Goodman hired health coach Mackie Shilstone who helped him to give up sugar and work out six days a week.
Shilstone instituted a Mediterranean-inspired eating plan with plenty of fish, vegetables, fruit, olive oil, and nuts. Goodman also committed to working out on the treadmill or elliptical machine six days a week, and ensured he got in a minimum of 10,000 steps each day.
In 2015, after Goodman had lost 100 pounds, his trainer told the New York Post: “This didn’t happen overnight — it’s been an ongoing process.”
“There needs to be strategic planning,” Shilstone added. “This time, he really wanted to do it.”
Yet Goodman’s earlier attempts had failed.
“In the old days, I would take three months out, lose 60 or 70 pounds, and then reward myself with a six-pack of Bud or whatever and just go back to my old habits.”
The shift came with age and perspective.
“This time, I wanted to do it slowly. Move, exercise. I’m getting to the age where I can’t afford to sit still anymore.”
By 2023, his dedication had paid off dramatically.
Having lost a staggering 200 pounds — which is roughly half his peak body weight — John is proving that it is never too late to rewrite your health story.
Telling Rolling Stone in 2023 that he had lost 200 pounds and that his workout of choice was boxing, noting, “It’s usually just an hour, hour and a half of hitting the mitts, hitting the bags, learning footwork. It’s great.”
In 2025, despite a setback, his commitment held.
John hit a hurdle in his workouts when in 2025, while filming a movie, he suffered a fractured hip in an on-set accident. Fans were concerned the injury might derail his progress, but John’s newfound fitness proved to be his greatest asset during recovery.
He returned to the red carpet in March 2026 at SXSW looking svelte and energetic, proving his commitment to longevity was as strong as ever.
Currently, John Goodman has a trio of projects set for the next year. These include the films The Hollywood Hitman, Digger, and Skeletons.