Between his successful film and TV careers, Jason Bateman is enjoying arguably the most successful spell of his career in his early 50s. Is a vegetarian diet part of the secret to his longevity?
There is no obvious evidence of Jason Bateman being vegetarian but also none to confirm that he is not. He did star in a 2019 Super Bowl advert for Hyundai that included a joke about vegan food, leading to a backlash from some vegans but we still have no definitive answer as to whether or not Bateman himself is vegetarian.
For more of what we do know about Jason Bateman’s lifestyle and some of the controversy about the Hyundai ad, keep reading.
Lifestyle
While there’s no clear evidence of whether or not Jason Bateman eats meat, he is committed to living a healthy lifestyle as he moves through his 50s. He no longer consumes any alcohol at all, following his admitted struggles with addiction in the 90s, and has also quit smoking.
He feels he has harnessed his addictive personality and channeled it into a healthy lifestyle, instead of his formerly self-destructive one. Where he would once drink to excess, he now exercises every day and has become an enthusiastic cyclist.
Bateman follows a strict fitness regime, running five miles every day, and has completed the LA marathon multiple times.
He says he enjoys the consistency and structure of training for a marathon even if you don’t actually run the marathon itself. The months of training, even without a 26 mile run at the end of them, can still do a great deal of good for somebody’s overall health.
He also doesn’t listen to music or podcasts while he runs, feeling that it’s a rare opportunity to contemplate and be alone with his thoughts. In his words, running is his “meditation time”.
While his obsessive personality has been helpful in his running and cycling, Bateman admits that it can still sometimes become an issue. He quit playing golf after finding it was consuming too much of his free time.
Hyundai Commercial
Whether or not Bateman is vegetarian, he did appear in a commercial that sparked outrage from some within the vegan community.
Hyundai’s 2019 Super Bowl ad starred Bateman as an elevator operator, taking passengers to various floors of a building.
The passengers disembark on numerous floors where unpleasant experiences await them, including dental treatment, sitting in the middle seat on an airplane, and jury duty before eventually reaching a brand new Hyundai on the top floor.
Along the way, the elevator stops at a vegan dinner party where the hostess presents an unpleasant looking “beetloaf”, presumably made of beetroot and some other vegetables.
The vegan party contributes about 8 seconds to the commercial’s 60-second runtime but was enough to cause an outcry on social media.
PETA even issued a statement on Twitter, saying that they felt the commercial was intentionally trying to embarrass vegans and recommending that people buy Mercedes cars instead of Hyundai.
Hyundai responded, saying that they weren’t attacking veganism in general and just poking fun at some of the more outlandish recipe ideas. They said “Nothing wrong with being vegan. That guy just doesn’t like beet-loaf.”
In an attempt to have some fun and diffuse the situation online, Hyundai eventually posted a recipe for beetloaf, letting their followers decide for themselves whether or not the dish was appealing.
Jason Bateman hasn’t commented on the commercial or its response, leaving us none the wiser as to whether or not he is vegan or vegetarian himself.