Sitcom legend John Goodman, 74, stuns fans with completely unrecognizable appearance after 200lb weight loss... see him now

By SAMEER SURI, US SENIOR SHOWBUSINESS REPORTER Published: 18:58, 7 August 2026 | Updated: 22:36, 7 August 2026 Roseanne star John Goodman was completely unrecognizable from the height of his fame when he surfaced on Instagram this week. During the sitcom's original run from 1988 to 1997, he won a devoted fanbase for his endearing and layered performance as family patriarch Dan Conner, the husband of the title character played by Roseanne Barr. His portly figure was the subject of frequent jokes and occasional plot points, and he subsequently revealed that at his largest he weighed 400lb. After Goodman gave up drinking in 2007, he embarked on a weight-loss process that by three years ago had seen him shed more than 200lb. He had evidently slimmed down even further by this week, when Wizards of Waverly Place actor David DeLuise bumped into him at the supermarket. DeLuise, whose parents Dom DeLuise and Carol Arthur were comic actors famed for their work in Mel Brooks's films, excitedly posted an Instagram selfie with Goodman that left viewers flabbergasted by the TV icon's change in appearance. The Daily Mail has contacted Goodman's representative for comment.  His portly figure was the subject of frequent jokes and occasional plot points and he subsequently revealed that at his largest he weighed 400lb DeLuise, whose parents Dom Deluise and Carol Arthur were comic actors famed for their work in Mel Brooks's films, has gushed of Goodman: 'He was my childhood!' Clockwise from bottom right, Goodman, Roseanne Barr, Michael Fishman, Sara Gilbert, Lecy Goranson and Laurie Metcalf on the original run of Roseanne 'He was my childhood !!' DeLuise gushed on Instagram with a heart emoji. 'Legend ! I love that I get to say that to someone ;) if you know you know.' Goodman began to lose weight after he entered rehab in 2007, putting an end to decades of alcoholism during which he would drink on set. 'It was 30 years of a disease that was taking its toll on everyone around me and it had got to the point where, every time I did it, it was becoming more and more debilitating. It was life or death,' he told the Guardian five years later. 'It was time to stop.' By 2010, he had lost 100lb, having excised sugar from his diet and begun working out six days a week with Serena Williams' trainer Mackie Shilstone, per People. Being heavier, Goodman said, had been 'a waste. It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your a** and figure out what you’re going to eat next.' Shilstone observed that the Big Lebowski star 'remembers what it feels like to be extremely heavy and it’s something he doesn’t want again.' The trainer-to-the-stars placed Goodman on a 'Mediterranean-style eating plan' and, where exercise was concerned, had him take a daily 10,000 to 12,000 steps with the assistance of a treadmill and an elliptical, he told the New York Post. Roseanne star John Goodman was completely unrecognizable from the height of his fame when he surfaced on Instagram this week in a selfie with David DeLuise Goodman attributed his trimmer frame to 'portion control,' a radical departure from his past habit of 'just shoving everything into my mouth,' in AARP magazine. 'But I don’t want to be an example to anybody when the weight comes thundering back on - when I start eating Crisco out of the can with a spoon and a side of confectioner's sugar,' the Argo actor added wryly.  He was able to avoid that eventuality so successfully that by 2023, Goodman announced he had rid himself of a staggering 200lb. At that stage, his workouts consisted largely of such low-intensity activities as walking his dogs, inasmuch as the COVID-19 pandemic had caused his previous boxing regimen to lapse 'because I’m lazy,' he told Rolling Stone. After Goodman gave up drinking in 2007, he began further improving his health with a weight-loss journey that by three years ago had seen him shed more than 200lb. Above, in July 2025 'I haven’t been exercising, but I’m going to start a routine again this summer where I can get some stuff done. I’ve just let everything go just because I haven’t had the energy because of the jobs,' the actor explained. Goodman now has a string of projects in various states of completion, including episodes of the podcast drama Hindsight: The Day Before, on which he plays Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Supreme Court Justice behind the famous line that 'free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.' His upcoming projects include the film The Hollywood Hitman, in which he plays himself, and the horror movie Skeletons, starring Brie Larson and Willa Fitzgerald. By October of this year, moviegoers in America will be able to see Goodman alongside Tom Cruise and Riz Ahmed in Digger, the oil industry satire by Birdman and The Revenant director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.