Quinton Aaron, the actor best known for playing Michael Oher in the 2009 film “The Blind Side,” has announced a major milestone in his weight loss journey, revealing he has lost 200 pounds.
“Today, when weighing myself, I noticed that I reached the 200-pound marker. As in, from my heaviest weight of 575lbs until this morning, 375lbs, I’m down 200lbs. I know right, AMAZING!!!”
The actor, who stands at 6-foot-8, previously took to Instagram in July to share that he had dropped 150 pounds. In his recent update, he said he only needed to shed 55 more pounds to achieve his target weight of 320 pounds.
“I GOT THIS!!!” he wrote.
“I became a depressive eater, and that was my drug. Food was my drug,” he explained.
“I was eating when I wasn’t even hungry. Just going out and buying food and sitting in my car in the parking lot, eating it, and crying and stuff, and not knowing why.”
Growing up, Aaron never knew his father. He was raised by a single mother, whom he called his “crown jewel” and his best friend. She died in 2008 at the age of 44, just one year before he landed his breakout role.
A couple of years ago, the actor was finally able to find his biological father through an online genealogy platform. However, he died just six weeks later.
Back in 2019, Aaron was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, the very same condition his mother battled. Two years later, he found out he had diabetes.
“There was this moment where, again, I felt God speak to me, and He would ask me these questions that, you know, just real blunt and straight to the point. Like, I remember one day, I heard His voice say, ‘Do you want to die?’ And I answer, I’m like, ‘No,’” the actor recalled on the podcast.
On the Big Screen
Aaron rose to prominence with his portrayal of Oher—also known as “Big Mike” due to his massive, more than 6-foot-tall frame—in the 2009 family sports drama, based on Michael Lewis’s 2006 book, “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.”The biographical film traced Oher’s journey from a homeless teen in Memphis to becoming an All-American football player at the University of Mississippi after being taken in by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy—played by Tim McGraw and Sandra Bullock.
Oher was later selected in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens, where he served as an offensive lineman for five seasons. He went on to join the Tennessee Titans in 2014, before playing with the Carolina Panthers the following season.
The film was a blockbuster hit, grossing more than $300 million worldwide. Bullock’s performance in the film also earned her an Academy Award for “Best Actress” in 2010.
In addition to “The Blind Side,” Aaron is also known for his roles in “Mothers and Daughters” (2016), “All In” (2017), and “Bad Company” (2018), among other films.
He is now set to star in the BET+ film “War Dawgz,” premiering Oct. 16, alongside actors Michael Beach, Kadeem Hardison, and Golden Brooks.
