Brendan Fraser is best known for his physical performances in popular comedies like The Mummy and George of the Junglebut in a recent interview, The whale star broke down the effect his early career performances had on his body and mind.

“I was a little shocked from years of doing my own stunts and needed a spine and hinge surgery solution,” he told the Telegraph.

The actor then underwent a series of surgeries, including a partial knee replacement to fix his body.

“It cost me a lot. I knew I was going to improve, but it took a long time,” he said.

Fraser went on to say that in 2007, while filming a third Mummy movie in China, every morning he woke up and put on “like a gladiator with duct tape and ice packs, strapping on this Transformer-like exoskeleton just to walk across the stage.”

When asked if he had endured such physical pain due to some degree of “self-loathing,” he replied, “Absolutely, there was self-loathing. I think on some level I felt I deserved [a beating] and I wanted to be the one who got the first punch.

Elsewhere during the interview, Fraser discussed his changing physique. As George of the JungleFraser was best known for his muscular form, and he told the newspaper that “it made sense” for him to look like that “if all they gave me to put on was a butt flap.”

Here, Fraser was referring to his George of the Jungle costume, which consisted of a single piece of leopard print fabric that covered his lower half.

“I’m older now; I don’t look like I did back then and I don’t necessarily want to,” Fraser continued. “But I made peace with who I am now. And I’m happy that the work I can do is based on an emotional reality that’s not my own life, but that I can strongly identify with.

Last week, Fraser landed his first Oscar nomination for his starring role in The whale. In the pic, directed by Darren Aronofsky, Fraser plays Charlie, an overweight man trying to strike up a relationship with his daughter. The film was criticized for its use of fat combinations as well as its overall portrayal of obesity.

“You have to see the work,” Fraser told the Telegraph in response to criticism. “All I can say is that I knew it had to be done with sensitivity and honesty. Putting Charlie in quotes – trying to sentimentalise him or make a sideshow of him – would be nothing I would want to do. part.